Determination of Asbestos Content in Natural Brucite

Introduction

Natural minerals used for making construction materials may contain asbestos, the content of which must be strictly controlled according to safety regulations. On August 28,2006, “The Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare notification No. 0828002: Determination of Asbestos Contents in Natural Minerals” was issued in Japan as the analytical method to evaluate whether or not asbestos content in specific natural minerals is greater than 0.1 wt%. Those minerals include powdered talc, meerschaum, vermiculite and natural brucite. Here we demonstrate that asbestos content can be assessed using the Shimadzu DTG-60 according to the above method.

July 8, 2009 GMT