An automatic tritium extraction method for environmental monitoring comprises the following steps: 1) cleaning of a distillation chamber; 2) distillation rising; 3) distillation; 4) condensation; 5) discharging samples out of the distillation chamber. By the adoption of the automatic tritium extraction device and method for environmental monitoring, fully-automatic distillation and condensation of environmental tritium samples, automatic cleaning of the distillation chamber, and automatic and accurate addition of required agents are realized, and fully-automatic acquisition, preparation, distillation, purification, measurement and analysis of environmental tritium can be completed; and manual intervention is reduced, so that monitoring results are more accurate, and labor costs are saved.

A sampling arrangement includes a sample concentration element configured to trap at least one analyte of interest by freezing; and a sample release arrangement configured to provide a flow of gas, at room temperature on or around the sample concentration element in order to change the temperature thereof; wherein the sample release arrangement further includes a release gas preprocessing element; and a pump element configured to provide the gas flow on or around the sample concentration element.

Methods for determining the hardness and/or ductility of a material by compression of the material are provided as a first aspect of the invention. Typically, compression is performed on multiple sides of a geologic material sample in a contemporaneous manner. Devices and systems for performing such methods also are provided. These methods, devices, and systems can be combined with additional methods, devices, and systems of the invention that provide for the analysis of compounds contained in such samples, which can indicate the presence of valuable materials, such as petroleum-associated hydrocarbons. Alternatively, these additional methods, devices, and systems can also stand independently of the methods, devices, and systems for analyzing ductility and/or hardness of materials.

A testing system is provided that includes a plurality of valves and a plurality of pumps. At least one of the pumps is coupled to at least one of the valves. A plurality of sensor arrays are coupled to at least one of the pumps or at least one of the valves for detecting at least one element. Each of the sensor arrays includes at least one serial connected sensor or parallel connected sensor.

An open system pyrolysis of a first hydrocarbon source rock sample obtained from a natural system is performed within a pyrolysis chamber by maintaining the pyrolysis chamber at a substantially constant temperature. Hydrocarbons are recovered from the pyrolysis chamber released by the first hydrocarbon source rock sample. A thermo-vaporization is performed within the pyrolysis chamber on the pyrolyzed sample at a substantially constant temperature. A first hydrocarbon expulsion efficiency of hydrocarbon source rock is determined. A second hydrocarbon rock sample is ground to a grain size less than or equal to or less than 250 micrometers. A second pyrolysis is performed on the ground hydrocarbon source rock sample by maintaining the chamber at a substantially constant temperature. A second hydrocarbon expulsion efficiency of the hydrocarbon source rock in the natural system is determined. The first hydrocarbon expulsion efficiency is verified using the second hydrocarbon expulsion efficiency.

A sampling device comprising a filter to remove particulates greater than about 10 microns, a dryer active to remove water vapor present in the air sample, a chemical scrubber active to remove contaminants from the air sample, a cold trap to capture analytes which is configurable to be put into fluid communication with a spectroscopic analyzer. A method of obtaining and analyzing a sample utilizing the device is also disclosed.

A sampling arrangement includes a sample concentration element configured to trap at least one analyte of interest by freezing; and a sample release arrangement configured to provide a flow of gas, at room temperature on or around the sample concentration element in order to change the temperature thereof; wherein the sample release arrangement further includes a release gas preprocessing element; and a pump element configured to provide the gas flow on or around the sample concentration element.

The present invention relates to a steam sample concentrator and conditioning (SSCC) system. The SSCC finds use in concentrating impurities carried in steam (e.g., used in power generation and other industrial processes) and facilitating steam analysis.

A thermal desorption tube collection system uses a thermoelectric cooler to collect and concentrate gas samples. In some modes, the operation of the cooler is reversed to flow the concentrated sample directly into a separator such as a gas chromatography system. Components resolved in time by a thermal desorption separator accumulate in a sample cell and are analyzed by electromagnetic radiation-based spectroscopic techniques. Also presented are methods for analyzing biogas samples.

A cleanliness monitor for monitoring a cleanliness of a vacuum chamber. The cleanliness monitor may include a mass spectrometer, a molecule aggregation and release unit and an analyzer. The molecule aggregation and release unit is configured to (a) aggregate, during an aggregation period, organic molecules that are present in the vacuum chamber and (b) induce, during a release period, a release of a subset of the organic molecules towards the mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer is configured to monitor an environment within the vacuum chamber and to generate detection signals indicative of a content of the environment; wherein a first subset of the detection signals is indicative of a presence of the subset of the organic molecules. The analyzer is configured to determine the cleanliness of the vacuum chamber based on the detection signals.