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In situ spectroscopic identification of the six types of asbestos

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Abstract

Exposure to asbestos fibres is related to a number of severe lung diseases, and therefore, rapid, accurate and reliable in situ or on-site asbestos detection in real-life samples is of considerable importance. This work presents a comprehensive investigation of all six types of asbestos by mid-infrared ATR-FTIR, NIR spectroscopy and Raman microspectroscopy. Our studies demonstrate that for practical applications, NIR spectroscopy is potentially the most powerful method for asbestos identification in materials utilised by the construction industry. By focusing on the narrow spectral region, 7300-7000 cm-1 (~1370-1430 nm, overtones of O-H vibrations), which is highly specific to these materials, and optimising the sensitivity and resolution of the instrumentation, we have been able to discriminate and identify each of the six types of asbestos with the level of detection significantly better than 1 wt%. Furthermore, straightforward computational analysis has allowed for automated objective evaluation of the spectroscopic data.

Acceptance Date Sep 1, 2020
Publication Date Sep 12, 2020
Journal Journal of Hazardous Materials
Print ISSN 0304-3894
Publisher Elsevier
Pages 123951 - 123951
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123951
Keywords Asbestos-containing materials; Mid-IR spectroscopy; NIR spectroscopy; Raman spectroscopy.
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123951

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