Mining Publication: A Novel Sampling Cassette for Field-based Analysis of Respirable Crystalline Silica
Original creation date: March 2021
Authors: L Chubb, E Cauda
Field-based methods for the analysis of respirable crystalline silica are now possible with the availability of portable instrumentation. Such methods also require the use of cassettes that facilitate direct-on-filter analysis of field samples. Conventional sampling cassettes can be modified such that they are amenable to direct-on-filter analysis while remaining compatible with common respirable dust samplers. The required modifications are described herein, and one version of such an analysis-ready cassette is described and evaluated in comparison to more traditional cassette designs. The novel cassette was found to result in a slightly higher mass of collected respirable material (for the same sampling duration), though this is likely due to the conductive material of the cassettes, which prevents particle wall losses in comparison to the more commonly used styrene cassette material. Both types of cassettes demonstrated comparable predictability in terms of respirable crystalline silica in a sample.

- A Comparison of Respirable Crystalline Silica Concentration Measurements Using a Direct-on-filter Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Transmission Method vs. a Traditional Laboratory X-ray Diffraction Method
- Best Practices for Dust Control in Coal Mining
- Direct-on-Filter alpha-Quartz Estimation in Respirable Coal Mine Dust using Transmission Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry and Partial Least Squares Regression
- Direct-on-filter Analysis for Respirable Crystalline Silica Using a Portable FTIR Instrument
- Evaluating Portable Infrared Spectrometers for Measuring the Silica Content of Coal Dust
- Evaluating the Use of a Field-based Silica Monitoring Approach with Dust from Copper Mines
- Evaluation of Diffuse Reflection Infrared Spectrometry for End-of-Shift Measurement of a-quartz in Coal Dust Samples
- Evaluation of Dust Exposure To Truck Drivers Following The Lead Haul Truck
- Laboratory Comparison of New High Flow Rate Respirable Size-Selective Sampler
- Respirable Size-Selective Sampler for End-of-Shift Quartz Measurement: Development and Performance