A Comparison of X-Ray Fluorescence and Wet Chemical Analysis of Air Filter Samples from a Lead/Zinc/Silver Ore Concentrator Mill

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• Personal Author:
  Pacolay B
• Description:
  Lead is mined in association with zinc and silver. The ore is concentrated on site by crushing and differential flotation before being sent to a primary smelter. Personal and area samples for airborne lead were taken at a lead mine concentrator mill. Zinc and iron were also present in all the airborne dusts. Samplers used included the closed-face 37mm filter cassette (the current U.S. standard method for lead sampling), the 37mm GSP or "cone" sampler, the 25mm Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) inhalable sampler, the 25mm button sampler, and the open-face 25mm cassette. The mixed cellulose-ester filters were analyzed after sampling for their content of various metals, particularly lead, using a portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer, and then were extracted with acid and analyzed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The 25-mm filters were analyzed using a single XRF reading, while three readings on different parts of the filter were taken from the 37-mm filters. For lead, all five samplers gave good correlations (r2 > 0.96) between the two analytical methods over the entire range of found lead mass, which encompassed the PEL enforced by MSHA. Linear regression on the results from most samplers gave almost 1:1 correlations without additional correction, indicating an absence of matrix effects from the other metals. As in previous studies, the best results were obtained with the GSP sampler using the average of three readings, with all XRF results within 20% of the corresponding ICP values and a slope very close to 1 (0.99). Greater than 95% of XRF results were within 20% of the corresponding ICP values for the closed-face 37mm cassette using an algorithm developed by OSHA. A considerable portion of total particulate aspiration was found deposited the interior walls of all samplers that possessed a suitable internal surface. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Environmental Monitoring Filtration Lead Metals Occupational Health Particulate Matter Radiography Safety Silver Zinc Compounds

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• Keywords:
  Air-filters Air-samples Air-sampling Airborne-dusts Airborne-particles Analytical-methods Filters Lead-compounds Particulate-dust Particulates Sampling Sampling-methods Silver-compounds X-ray-fluorescence-analysis Zinc-compounds

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• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  40
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030237
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 13-16, 2006, Chicago, Illinois. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2006 May; :40
• CAS Registry Number:
  Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1) ; Silver (CAS RN 7440-22-4) ; Zinc (CAS RN 7440-66-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 13-16, 2006, Chicago, Illinois
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dab2928a12554a4d6bae3dbd2c0cace7a7660c83ea343685a7cd37c2c56f37ad27d2ebab2bc0f5fe9a66663d077d1755d619674711836ff9e40e9e323d4eae93
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/190981/cdc_190981_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 480.65 KB ]