Quantitative determination of fluoride as a major pollutant in the emissions from the thermal treatment of clayey raw materials

Three clayey raw materials for production of traditional ceramics, all with medium to high fluorine content, have been investigated for determining their attitude to fluoride emission during firing, at varying parameters of the firing cycle, maximum firing temperature included, and in the presence or in the absence of calcium carbonate either added to the sample or naturally present in it. Different analytical methods for the determination of fluoride have been tested, together with different sample preparation procedures aimed to obtain minimum loss of fluoride in the pre-treatment step.