Elemental analysis of waste glass by x-ray fluorescence spectrometry

An X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique is reported which shows promise for the elemental analysis of low-level mixed waste glasses. This technique can be used for both quantitative laboratory analysis and process control. The glass-forming melts are cast into graphite molds and resulting disks are annealed and polished. The disk is then analyzed with a wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and the elemental intensities are converted into concentration with a fundamental parameters routine without the use of matrix-matched standards. Precision of elemental determinations are all better than one percent relative standard deviation. The XRF analysis has been compared with a reference method utilizing conventional wet chemical dissolution techniques followed by atomic spectroscopic determination. Results show that there is no significant difference between these two techniques, however, the XRF technique is much simpler and faster than the wet chemical methods