Determination of silicon dioxide content in bauxite: comparing the ICP-OES method with the UV-VIS method

Abstract

In this paper, the ICP-OES method (induced coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry) was used to determine the content of silicon dioxide in bauxite, as an important impurity that affects the quality and application of bauxite in alumina production by the Bayer process. Twenty bauxite samples from seven different deposits were analysed. The results were compared with the reference spectrophotometric UV-VIS method. The mean relative difference between the silicon dioxide content determined by the ICP-OES method and the reference method is found to be 4.88 %. Statistical tests were used to assess the comparability of the two methods, followed by a scatter plot, the Bland Altman, Passing-Bablok, and the "Mountain" plot. Graphical comparisons generally do not show statistically significant differences between methods. The accuracy and precision of the ICP-OES method were verified by using the standard reference material SRM NIST 697, Dominican Bauxite. Recovery and repeatability values, expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD), are within the acceptance criteria. Based on the t-test, there is a statistically significant difference between the mean value of ICP-OES measurements and the certified value of silicon dioxide, which can be attributed to the effect of systematic error of ICP-OES analysis.