Study with unprecedented technology was carried out by the IBRAM workgroup

Specialists and technicians from the Working Group linked to the Brazilian Iron Ore Committee developed unprecedented technology to determine the total iron content in iron ores. Samarco’s chemical laboratory, in the Ubu complex (ES), was one of the locations used for the process of developing the technical standard proposal. The company also provided the equipment for the experiments.

Samarco participates in the Brazilian standardization committees of the Brazilian Mining Institute (IBRAM), for the creation of standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT) and is part of the group that developed the method of analysis of iron by Potentiometric Titration since 2013.

The process analyst at Samarco, Anderson Pedruzzi says that the main challenge to confirm the method was to understand the reason for the loss of sensitivity of the electrodes. He explained the procedures used to achieve the technique's success, after nine years of studies.

“The electrode is the main component of the Potentiometric Titrator, directly responsible for the potentiometric measurements and accuracy of the results. We used Samarco's Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to perform electrode evaluations and diagnose the problem. We discovered that the electrode was undergoing oxidation due to the action of phosphoric acid, causing its loss of sensitivity. We then suggested to the group that this reagent be excluded from the method and the test results demonstrated the effectiveness of removing phosphoric acid to maintain electrode performance”, says Anderson.

The new method of iron analysis consists of using an instrument called a Potentiometric Titrator, which significantly reduces human interference in the analysis and guarantees more precise and accurate results, in addition to gains related to the reduction of the use of chemicals and analytical costs.

“The use of a technology that assures more precision and accuracy of results provides what everyone is looking for. Besides, we can consider productivity gains thanks to the automated operation of the equipment. The next steps of the working group will be to determine the precision data of the method and formalize the proposal for standardization of the method with ABNT and ISO”, emphasizes the manager of Process Engineering, Automation and Instrumentation, at Samarco , Thiago Marchezi.