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 o f diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) of the 1875-cm-1 band of sili ca, 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 concentrat ion is obtained with concentration up to about 100 mg. This calibratio n is employed to determine silica concentration in six mine dust sampl es collected in a roof bolter box and one coal sample. These results a re compared with the independent results obtained by x-ray diffraction (with CaF, as the standard), and a good agreement is obtained in most cases.