General Information 

Neutron and X-Ray Computed Tomography and Raman Spectroscopy Spectra for Fertiliser Pellets
2025-05-20
fertiliser pellets, soil nutrients, Neutron computed tomography, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray computed tomography

Cranfield University 
Professor Ruben Sakrabani
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Environmental Sustainability Theme 

Funding from STFC Food Network +

Methodological Information
Neutron computed tomography (NCT) was performed on the IMAT beamline at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, while
X-ray computed tomography (XCT) was performed on I12-JEEP beamline at Diamond Light Source, representing the first attempt to study the structure of OMF 
pellets with combined neutron and X-ray imaging techniques. 

Raman Spectrocopy was used to characterise the pellets. The Raman spectra were acquired with the inVia 
Renishaw microscope available at the Centre Laser Facility using an 830 nm excitation wavelength to minimize fluorescence from the 
samples, a 20X objective and a 1mW laser power. For each sample, 20 spectra were collected non-invasively at 
various locations on the fertiliser pellets, highlighting eventual heterogeneities within each sample as well 
as the differences in the chemical composition between samples. 


Sharing and access information 

Data can be shared through the CC BY 

File name structure and file format

Raman Spectrosocpy : Each .txt file is the spectra for each location, the name says where it was acquired, either top, middle or bottom of the pellet.
For each layer there are 10 spectra indicated as p1 until p10.

Neutron and X-Ray Computerised Tomography : 

1. Ensure 7zip version 22 or later is installed.
2. Place both archive "part" files into the same directory
3. Right click the first "part" (001), hover over 7zip, press "Open archive"
4. This will open the whole archive, spanning multiple files

The NCT data shows reconstructed data clipped to only a single pellet.  
The XCT data shows a single compressed reconstructed dataset for pellets used in this study. 

The TIFF files are reconstructed from the raw data and can be opened using any software but ImageJ is recommeded for viewing and slicing them, and perhaps Avizo 
(paid) for 3D visualisation.