Determination of Coal Dust in Airborne Particulate Materials by Automated Optical Microscopy

Abstract

An automated optical technique for the determination of coal in airborne particulate materials is described. The technique may be used over the interval 1–50% (by weight) coal when the sample Is uniformly deposited as a monolayer on a cellulose acetate filter. The analytical precision Is found to be acceptable. The accuracy for reference samples Is shown to be either ±0.5 % (by weight) or ±10 % over the analytical range. The application of the method to authentic samples of airborne particulate materials is also discussed.