Rapid identification of inorganic salts using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence.

A simple method for the rapid identification of inorganic salts used as raw materials during food production has been established using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). Intensities of Na, Mg, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn Kalpha peaks have been measured. The treatment and comparison of the respective intensities allowed a rapid identification of inorganic salts. Two different methods of data treatment have been tested: K nearest neighbours (KNN) and centroids. Using cross validation on a database containing 140 samples representing 31 classes, a total of 98% of samples were well identified.