Abstract:
This research proposes a technique for determining mercury (Hg) in sludge samples from petroleum production. Due to inhomogeneity of Hg in the samples, several techniques may fail to give reliable analysis results. The dual gamma-ray transmission technique has been widely used for bulk analysis of inhomogeneous samples like ores and coals. The selected gamma-rays emitted from 57Co, 122 and 136 KeV, were just above the Hg K-absorption edge thus sensitive to changes in Hg content in the sample while 662-keV gamma-rays from 137 Cs were used to normalize differences in sample density thickness. A1'' x1''Nal (TI) detector coupled with a pocket multichannel analyzer was used to detect the gamma-rays. The technique was first tested with soil samples containing lead (Pb) and finally with the sludge samples. The results were found to be satisfactory. With appropriate calibration, the proposed technique could be applied for determining Hg in sludge samples from petroleum production and any other Hg contaminated samples.