Abstract
An energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (EDX) has been applied to determine multielements in the workplace air. The standards for X-ray fluorescence analysis were prepared by the chelate precipitation method on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane filter. And, the specimens were prepared to deposite various metal compounds of different chemical forms by the suspension method on PVC membrane filter, and they were determined with EDX and atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). The results obtained were as follows. 1) Though there is a difference by each element, an amount less than 3 μg/cm2 per unit area makes it possible to undergo multielement analysis, that is, it has no influence on fine particle effect (particle size; under 5μm). Then, effects of the X-ray intensity by different chemical forms are negligible. 2) At the presence the neighboring element and other elements this technique showed greater precision by carrying out on corrective treatment, etc. 3) The coefficient of variation of this technique was in the range of 2.5-6.5% at DDTC-Cu of 0.5-5.0 μg/cm2, with the limit of detection for As: 0.002 μg/cm2, Zn: 0.003 μg/cm2, Pb: 0.003 μg/cm2, Cu: 0.004 μg/cm2, Ni: 0.003 μg/cm2, Fe: 0.005 μg/cm2, Mn: 0.008 μg/cm2, Cr: 0.013 μg/cm2, respectively. 4) Aerosols collected at the workplace were analyzed with EDX and AAS, and the obtained results showed good agreement with such regression line as y=1.04x+0.04, the coefficient of correlation being r=0.995. From these results, this technique was found to be a very excellent method for monitoring of multielements in the workplace air.
