Isotopenlabor


In the year 2008 the installation of the lab was made possilbe by generous financial support from OMV within the frame of PEPE project, the European Union (EFRE) and the government of Styria.

Investigations of stable isotope ratios (C, N, S, O, H(D)) provide information on the origin of organic matter in sediments and their depositional environment (salinity, hydrology, bio-productivity). Moreover, they are an important tool to classify oil families and for oil-oil as well as oil-source rocks correlations. Especially reliable results are provided by compound-specific isotope masspectroscopy, where isotope rations of specific molecules are determined.

The Leoben isotope lab consists of the following instruments delivered by Spectronex GmbH/Hermo-Fischer Scientific:

- Delta V Advantage (Isotope mass spectrometer for the determinatio of  isotope ratios on carbon 13C (CO2), nitrogen 15N (N2), oxygen 18O (CO, O2), sulphur 34S (SO2) and hydrogen 2H (D)
- Gas Gench Needle Flush/Measure
- ConFlo IV (Interface for element analyzer and gas chromatograph)
- Element analyzer Flash EFCt (for automatic measurement of N and C)
- Gas Bench II (sample interface system for the determination of isotope ratios of CO2 in air or released form carbonate minerals, the 13C determination of solved inorganic carbon, or 180 in water samples)
- Temperature controlled sample tray and carbonte option (automatic carbonate tool with acid pump and phoshoric acid for Gas Bench II)
- CG IsoLink for C, N and H analyses (inclues the gas chromatograph TRACE GC ULTRA and a H/D-reactor)
- Option for 18O analyses of GC-eluates
- TriPlus auto-sampler for Trace GC ULTRA
- H/D system for the simultaneous setermination of ions with the masses 2 and 3

The instument is used mainly for petroleum geological projects (source rock analysis, oil analysis, oil-source rock correlations, migration studies), but also to solve economic geological problems. Moreover, it can be applied for bio-geochemical and environment-geochemical studies.