Free silica in dust is the main cause of silicosis, hence analyzing the content of free silica in dust is an important part of occupational health monitoring. The standard for measurement includes several methods for determination of free silica, including pyrophosphoric acid method, infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction method. The pyrophosphoric acid method can determine the total amount of free silica. However it is a manual method and therefore subject to the analyst's chemical analysis skills, is time consuming and cumbersome.
This application note demostrates how the infrared method with PerkinElmer Spectrum Two is much simpler, with no solvents required, the analysis is fast and accurate and is the more popular method compared to the pyrophosphoric acid method.