Stastitical Comparison of Analytical Results Obtained by Pressed Powder and Borate Fusion XRF Spectrometry for Process Control Samples of a Lead Smelter

Abstract

AbstractTwo sample preparation procedures for XRF determination of critical elements in process control samples of a lead smelter have been compared. The two methods, pressed powder(PP) and borate fusion(BF) were used in the analysis of (in order of importance) lead, zinc, copper, sulphur, arsenic and the flux elements (FeO, MnO, Al2O3, CaO, MgO and SiO2). The techniques were applied to three points in the overall lead-zinc-copper production process.The three sample types have been selected to allow comparison between the BF and PP methods, where the PP method suffers from difficulties with particle size, moisture absorption or composition variation.The BF technique was found to give better precision (typically 0.2 to 1% RSD) than the PP approach (typically 0.8 to 9% RSD), and to give better accuracy as found using reference materials. The stability of the BF bead over time is also of advantage in quality control. The flexibility and reliability of the BF technique has lead to its acceptance, and in part, to changes in the overall smelter analysis structure.