Is fibrous ferrierite a potential health hazard? Characterization and comparison with fibrous erionite

0491028 - ÚTAM 2019 RIV US eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Gualtieri, A. F. - Gandolfi, N. B. - Passaglia, E. - Pollastri, S. - Mattioli, M. - Giordani, M. - Ottaviani, M. F. - Cangiotti, M. - Bloise, A. - Barca, D. - Vigliaturo, R. - Viani, Alberto - Pasquali, L. - Lassinantti Gualtieri, M.
Is fibrous ferrierite a potential health hazard? Characterization and comparison with fibrous erionite.
American Mineralogist. Roč. 103, č. 7 (2018), s. 1044-1055. ISSN 0003-004X. E-ISSN 1945-3027
Grant CEP: GA MŠMT(CZ) LO1219
Klíčová slova: zeolite * ferrierite * erionite * mineral fiber * health hazard * microporous materials * crystalchemistry * properties * utilizations
Obor OECD: Mineralogy
Impakt faktor: 2.631, rok: 2018
https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2018-6508

Fibrous erionite is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as carcinogenic substance to humans. In the areas where it is present in the bedrock, it may cause environmental exposure, and both professional and environmental exposures are possible when the bedrock is used for industrial applications. For health and environment protection, prevention is a priority action. In this framework, the recent guidelines of the Consensus Report of the Weinman International Conference on Mesothelioma suggest identifying locations where potentially hazardous mineral fibers are found in the environment, to prevent environmental exposure. The present study will show that one such potentially hazardous mineral fiber might be fibrous ferrierite. Here, the mineralogy, chemical-physical properties, and surface activity of a hydrothermal fibrous ferrierite from Monte Lake British Columbia and a diagenetic fibrous ferrierite from Lovelock, Nevada, were investigated using a combination of “state of the art” experimental methods including optical microscopy, electron microscopy and microprobe analysis, laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, vibrational spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, and synchrotron powder diffraction. The chemical-physical properties of these fibrous ferrierites that prompted adverse effects in vivo were compared to those of the positive carcinogenic standard fibrous erionite-Na from Jersey, Nevada. The results of our study have demonstrated that, although there are differences in the crystal chemistry and genetic environment, ferrierite samples exhibit outstanding similarities with fibrous erionite samples: both fibrous erionite and fibrous ferrierite may occur in large amounts as microcrystalline fibrous–asbestiform phases in diagenetic rocks with fibers of breathable sizes. For both zeolites, iron is not structural but is associated with impurities lying at the surface of the fibers. Moreover, data useful to understand the surface activity of these fibrous ferrierites were collected. As far as hydrothermal sample is concerned, the EPR data indicate the presence of hydrophilic and hydrophobic interacting surface groups able to bind the charged CAT1 probes at close sites and attract the probes in the water pools formed into the fiber aggregates. A high percentage of CAT1 probes weakly interacting with the surface due to competition with metal ions were observed for surface of the diagenetic sample. CAT8 probes were less adsorbed by its surface if compared to the diagenetic sample but the more charged surface provided a stronger binding strength for the diagenetic sample compared to the hydrothermal one. In summary, the results of this study indicate that fibrous ferrierite may represent a potential health hazard and, applying the precautionary principle, it should undergo a procedure of toxicity testing.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0285105