The James Hutton Institute laboratories can deliver analysis of a wide range of stable isotopes, performing both bulk and compound specific analysis of:

• Light Isotopes - including Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Hydrogen
• Heavy Isotopes - including Strontium, Neodymium, Samarium and Lead

The team also has extensive preparation facilities and experience of extracting these compounds from samples.

Isotope analysis can help to date or find the point of origin of a sample and is typically used for: 

Specific Analyses

The applications of these analyses are varied and this is reflected in a wide client base which includes the oil and gas sector, the food and drink sector, government agencies and research institutions.

• Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen isotopes in solids such as plant material, soils and marine sediments (hydrogen isotopes are under development)
• Carbon isotopes of dissolved inorganic Carbon in both fresh and saline waters and Carbon isotopes of dissolved organic Carbon in fresh waters
• Carbon and Oxygen isotopes of carbon dioxide in gaseous materials

We are also capable of compound specific analysis of neutral and phospholipid fatty acids (Carbon isotopes), alkanes (Carbon isotopes) and amino acids (Carbon and Nitrogen isotopes); these analyses have many applications in biological science.

• Geological investigations (e.g. Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy) for soils, pollution studies, plant element uptake and archaeological tracking
• Geological materials including mineral separates, drill cuttings, whole rocks, residual salts, formation waters and micro-fossils.  All of which have been applied to reservoir geology nationally and internationally

We work in partnership with ISOTOPIC Ltd. to deliver high precision radiogenic isotope analysis to the oil and gas industry.