Gunst, Stefan ; Weinbruch, Stephan ; Wentzel, M. ; Ortner, H. M. ; Skogstad, A. ; Hetland, S. ; Thomassen, Y. (2000)
Chemical composition of individual aerosol particles in workplace air during production of manganese alloys.
In: Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 2 (1)
doi: 10.1039/a908329d
Artikel, Bibliographie

Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract)

Aerosol particle samples were collected at ELKEM ASA ferromanganese (FeMn) and silicomanganese (SiMn) smelters at Porsgrunn, Norway, during different production steps: raw material mixing, welding of protective steel casings, tapping of FeMn and slag, crane operation moving the ladles with molten metal, operation of the Metal Oxygen Refinement (MOR) reactor and casting of SiMn. Aerosol fractions were assessed for the analysis of the bulk elemental composition as well as for individual particle analysis. The bulk elemental composition was determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. For individual particle analysis, an electron microprobe was used in combination with wavelength-dispersive techniques. Most particles show a complex composition and cannot be attributed to a single phase. Therefore, the particles were divided into six groups according to their chemical composition: GroupI, particles containing mainly metallic Fe and/or Mn; GroupII, slag particles containing mainly Fe and/or Mn oxides; GroupIII, slag particles consisting predominantly of oxidized flux components such as Si, Al, Mg, Ca, Na and K; GroupIV, particles consisting mainly of carbon; GroupV, mixtures of particles from GroupsII, III and IV; GroupVI, mixtures of particles from GroupsII and III. In raw material mixing, particles originating from the Mn ores were mostly found. In the welding of steel casings, most particles were assigned to GroupII, Mn and Fe oxides. During the tapping of slag and metal, mostly slag particles from GroupIII were found (oxides of the flux components). During movement of the ladles, most particles came from GroupII. At the MOR reactor, most of the particles belonged to the slag phase consisting of the flux components (GroupIII). The particles collected during the casting of SiMn were mainly attributed to the slag phase (GroupsIII and V). Due to the compositional complexity of the particles, toxicological investigations on the kinetics of pure compounds may not be easily associated with the results of this study.

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