measurement of copper and iron in sarcheshmeh copper mine soil by xrf technique

Abstract: measurement of copper and iron is important in copper ore soil samples. chemical dissolution method is used to measure copper and iron in these samples [1-2]. one of the disadvantages of using these methods is the use of chemicals, which leads to climate pollution. therefore, a suitable instrumental method can be a good alternative to the old methods. due to the similarity of the sample matrix, the use of x-ray machine was studied. first, 19 samples of mine soil were selected and ground. the basis for selecting the samples was that their copper concentration was in the range of 004 to 2.0%. first, the amount of copper and iron in the samples was analyzed by chemical dissolution and reading by atomic flame absorption apparatus [3]. then, the sample size of 250 micrometers was selected by sieving [4]. then the tablets of these samples were prepared and the x-ray machine was calibrated. calibration of copper is in the range of 0.04 to 1.87% and iron is in the range of 1.70 to 14.29%. finally, the amount of copper and iron in one hundred samples of mine soil was analyzed by this program. the error rates of copper and iron results with this method compared to the wet method were 0.52 and 1.16%, respectively, which is satisfactory. this method leads to much less climate pollution. for annual dissolution of sarcheshmeh mine soil samples, the consumption of drinking water, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid are 30,000, 1,500 and 300 liters, respectively, which leads to the production of 55,415 liters of no2 gas (air pollution), 140 kg nitrate (water pollution), 637 kg chloride. (water pollution) and 10.1 kg of sulfur (water pollution). while in x-ray method, the contaminants were removed. and the results are satisfactory.