Morphological and mineralogical forms of technogenic magnetic particles in industrial dusts

The morphology, mineralogy, and magnetic properties of technogenic magnetic particles (TMPs) were analysed in four kinds of industrial dust produced during high temperature technological processes of different branches of industry (lignite and hard coal burning, cement production, coke production). The study was carried out by means of magnetic susceptibility measurement, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and thermomagnetic analysis. To assess the total content of the magnetic fraction in bulk dust samples, mass specific magnetic susceptibility (χ) was measured and then a physical separation of magnetic particles (mostly of technogenic origin) was conducted. The dusts revealed high diversity of the χ value, which was dependent on the magnetic particles’ concentration and mineralogical composition. Significant differences in the magnetic mineralogy of dusts coming from different branches of industry were observed. In fly ashes from coal combustion, spherical forms (typical ferromagnetic spherules) of magnetite, magnesioferrite, and maghemite were mostly observed. In dusts after lignite combustion a higher content of antiferromagnetic hematite and maghemite was observed due to the lower temperature of lignite combustion. In cement dusts a large variety of iron minerals were observed including magnetite, maghemite, hematite, ferrites, and goethite. The characteristic mineral forms for cement dusts were Ca-ferrites and co-occurrence of calcite, anhydrite, gypsum, and bassanite with a magnetic mineral fraction. The magnetic fraction produced by the coke industry was mostly in the form of tightly compacted aggregates with well-formed crystal structures where ferromagnetic pyrrhotite was characteristic feature. The TMPs could be distinctive for pollution source identification and serve as a tracer of dust origin and (if found in topsoil) identification of soil pollution sources.