Abstract
Although the Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectrophotometric Direct on Filter(FTIR-DOF) method is a useful analytical technique for quantifying quartz content in respirable dust samples, a number of analytical problems must be taken into consideration such as, to name only a few, inhomogeneous deposition of particles, level of environmental humidity, uneven surface of the filter, and interfering minerals in the sample. This study was designed to select the most suitable wavelength and proper filter material for the method, and to investigate effects of humidity and inhomogeneous deposition of particles on the filter. Samples of respirable dust, created in a dust chamber containing standard material of quartz, were collected using a cyclone equipped with a 25mm filter as a collection medium. The results were as follows; 1. Among seven (7) commercially available filters tested for the FTIR-DOF method, the DM 800 filter showed the best analytical performance having the lowest background absorbance bands and no overlapping peaks at 799, 779, and $695cm^{-1}$. 2. The variations of absorbance due to humidity ranged from 1.0% to 3.3% for $799cm^{-1}$, 1.0% to 3.3% for $779cm^{-1}$, and 8.9%~20.9% for $695cm^{-1}$ peaks, respectively. The $699cm^{-1}$ peak was proved to be most vulnerble to environmental humidity for quantitative analysis of quartz. 3. As for effects of inhomogeneous deposition of samples, the highest variation of absorbance of 10.9% ($13.5{\mu}g$) was observed when using the 695cm-1. The variations of absorbance from the other two peaks, 799 and $779cm^{-1}$, ranged from 1.2 to 3.2%, and 1.4 to 4.1%, respectively. Therefore, the $799cm^{-1}$ peak was considered to be most reliable for quantitative analysis of quartz. The results of this study suggest that, for quantitative analysis of quartz in the respirable dust samples, use of the $799cm^{-1}$ peak can minimize the influence of environmental humidity and inhomogeneous deposition of particles on the filter. The FTIR-DOF method, if adopted for routine analysis of quartz in the respirable dust samples, could save sample preparation time and efforts substantially and also could increase analytical throughputs. Since use of the $799cm^{-1}$ peak is prone to be affected by interferences in the sample, further research on minimizing the effects is needed.
