Applicability of portable XRF systems for screening waste loads on hazardous substances as incoming inspection at waste handling plants

Abstract

In consequence of several European Union Directives, there is an increasing need for rapid and easy-to-handle screening tools to identify hazardous substances or to verify the absence of those substances. A field trial was executed to evaluate the capability of portable/handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) systems for screening waste loads on hazardous substances as incoming inspection at waste handling plants to characterise the waste material or to classify it by its key variables (critical parameters). For the field trial, six different waste materials were prepared: construction waste, shredder material, contaminated soil, waste wood, Pb granulate and slag from a municipal incineration waste. In total, eight different XRF instruments were evaluated. The results indicate that for screening analysis, the pretreatment of the sample is of minor relevance. Additionally, the results prove that the degree of homogeneity/heterogeneity of the material strongly influences the dispersion of the results of repeated measurements. The obtained results proved that for specific samples (e.g. organic matrices, elevated contaminant concentrations and high water content), an appropriate adjustment of the matrix effects and spectral overlap corrections are required to improve the quality of the XRF results. In the overall assessment, this analytical method can be recommended as a screening method for the analysis of waste, as more than 80% of the obtained results were situated within a predefined range of accuracy. Handheld XRF analysers are the detection method of choice for the initial analysis of elements in waste, as this method is fast, reliable, handy and cost-effective and allows easy checking of sample heterogeneity.

Rapid assessment of soil and contaminant variability via portable x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: Copşa Mică, Romania

“…The result is that many samples are collected, processed in the lab, and show unremarkable results; representing wasted time and money. More recently, portable x-ray fluorescence (PXRF) spectrometry has been effective at providing quality elemental data to environmental scientists in-situ, while working in zones of contamination (e.g., Clark and Knudsen, 2014;Weindorf et al, 2013a;Vanhoof et al, 2012;Weindorf et al, 2012a). The advantages of this are obvious in that analysts can quickly and easily discern contaminated soil/sediment from non-contaminated areas.…”

On-site quantitation of arsenic in drinking water by disk solid-phase extraction/mobile X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

“…If mobile XRF spectrometry could evaluate the concentrations of chemical substances in environmental water, the investigation of water quality could be conducted simultaneously with a survey of the surrounding environment such as soil [15,16], minerals [17,18], and waste [19] in the field. This would be helpful in the rapid specification and removal of pollutant sources.…”

Chemical Analysis of Iron Meteorites Using a Hand‐Held X‐Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer

“…), quality tests in the metallurgical industry and engineering, and the identification and classification of hazardous wastes (Vanhoof et al . ). The reasons for the significant success of HHXRF (Potts and West ) include (a) portability of the instrument, (b) the easy handling of the operating system, (c) minimal sample preparation (d) rapid, non‐destructive field analyses with remarkable reproducibility and low detection limits for elements heavier than Mg.…”