QUANTIFICATION OF SILICA IN MINE DUSTS USING DIFFUSE REFLECTANCE INFRARED-SPECTROSCOPY

Following up on the recent work by Pandurangi and Seehra, a new method for the quantification of silica in mine dust samples, with the use of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) of the 1875-cm-1 band of silica, is proposed. The 1875-cm-1 band does not suffer interference from other minerals usually present in mine dusts, and a linear calibration curve of the integrated intensity of this band with silica concentration is obtained with concentration up to about 100 mg. This calibration is employed to determine silica concentration in six mine dust samples collected in a roof bolter box and one coal sample. These results are compared with the independent results obtained by x-ray diffraction (with CaF, as the standard), and a good agreement is obtained in most cases.