Characterization of Asbestos in Ambient Air During Refractory Material Production from Magnesite Ore

Abstract

Asbestos is a general term employed for crystallized silicate minerals in fibril form. It can be commonly found in nature and from which fibre uses in the industry through processing are obtained. However, there is limited information about the air quality in terms of asbestos for the companies that produce refractory materials from magnesite ore. This deficiency in the literature can be eliminated with this study for a company with high quality and durable refractory materials. Among the most used asbestos analysis are scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM). Asbestos analyses have been performed in two different institutions on the parallel samples whose preliminary processes have been completed. According to the SEM results, 23 of the observed fibrils in a total area are bigger than 5 µmin lengths and less than 3 µm in width. Three of fibrils were observed to have the characteristics of chrysotile fibres morphemically and elementally. In addition, airborne samples were analyzed using a TEM instrument. According to the results obtained, 13 of the observed fibrils in total were bigger than 5 µm in length and less than 3 µm in width and based on Electron Diffraction analysis and elemental composition (EDXA) results of these fibrils, and they were not observed to have the characteristics of chrysotile fibres. Most of the observed fibrils were noted to be other inorganic minerals (lizardite) fibrils. Additionally, the obtained results show that the asbestos concentration in the air is below the limit specified by the provision (0.1 fiber/cm 3 ).