Design and construction of a wear metal real- time detection system for engine lubrificansts

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X-ray fluorescence spectroscopic technique for quality control in pharmaceutical, agronomy and automobile industry from a biomedical perspective

Publication . Cardoso, Pedro Alexandre Glória; Santos, José; Guerra, Mauro

In this work, we investigate the versatility of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopic technique specifically in biomedical applications. To prove the robustness of the method we devel- oped three case studies from three very distinct industries with different backgrounds. In the first example, we study the application to the pharmaceutical industry by analyz- ing a group of samples of commercially available iron supplement pills. This analysis shows that even though iron concentrations are measured to meet the advertised values, there are important elemental contaminants, specifically, manganese and nickel. In the second example, we have analyzed food samples, more specifically, biofortified wheat grains. This analysis focus on assessing the ability of different genotypes for retaining the biofortified element - zinc. Even though most sample show enhanced zinc content, zinc distribution inside the grain is not homogeneous and this element tends to be found in higher concentrations in the embryo and vascular bundle. In the third example, we have developed a study in collaboration with the biggest automotive plant in Portugal – Volkswagen Autoeuropa. The main goal is to install, at least, one low-cost air quality control device in one of the workstations of the factory. For this purpose, we designed two prototypes that used the wind tunnel principle to deposit suspended particles in these workstations onto quartz fiber filters. These filters were then analyzed not only by XRF but also via microscopic camera analysis, SEM with EDX. Results for both size and com- position concentrations show a linear behavior with deposition time, for a range of four identified trace elements: Iron, Zinc, Manganese and Copper. From these samples we conclude that the number of suspended metallic particles is not negligible and a repeated and accumulated long time exposure might have health consequences.

2022-03Tese de doutoramento

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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Programa de financiamento

OE

Número da atribuição

PDE/BDE/114483/2016