Microelemental Analysis for Identifying Cotton-Related Dust Particles

Abstract

Identification of components of cotton mill dust is a major problem in the search for the causative agent of the chronic lung disease, byssinosis. In the mechanical processes that produce respirable dusts, most of the particles lose all morphological features, making it difficult to determine their source. Workers have used the nat urally occurring elemental content of the various cotton plant parts to show their presence in collected mill dusts. Elemental content of dust particles from known cotton plant parts was determined by electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray analysis and by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Potassium and calcium content were used to differentiate leaf and bract materials from stem, seedcoat, and pericarp materials. Particles with elemental content patterns similar to these two groups were present in dust generated in a cotton cardroom. Cottonseed oil mill dusts showed fewer leaf-like particles but more mineral material.