Analysis of Secondary Components and Deleterious Elements in Iron Ore Prepared as Fused Beads

The concentrations of secondary components such as MgO, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, K₂O, CaO, TiO₂, MnO, traces of V and Cr₂O₃ as well as the analysis of P and S as deleterious elements play a deciding role in quality control of iron ore. The increasing need for quality control through the various stages of mining, transport, further processing into iron sinter, manufacturing and
distribution call for analysis close to the production site.

Lab analysis has been commonly conducted via wavelength dispersive XRF. The compact energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectrometer SPECTRO XEPOS on the other hand enables the analysis performance close to the production site.

Large mineralogical effects can occur during X-ray fluorescence analysis of the elements P, K, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, and Ti in pressed pellets. Therefore, a proven standard procedure has been used for a long time instead: The preparation of the iron ore as a fused bead with lithium tetraborate to obtain accurate results. One available norm for the analysis of iron ores is ISO 9516-1:2003(E).

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