Thermoluminescence parameters and kinetics of irradiated inorganic dust collected from black peppers

Abstract

Irradiated foods can be detected by thermoluminescence (TL) of contaminating inorganic dust particles. In this study, black peppers were irradiated with gamma rays at doses of 1, 3, 5 and 10 kGy. The inorganic dust particles collected from irradiated black pepper are investigated. This study reports the mineral composition of this dust being, mainly quartz, feldspar and little amount clay minerals. The TL detection method is clearly able to distinguish irradiated and non-irradiated black peppers at the doses ranging from 1 to 10 kGy. The paper provides a detailed calculation of the activation energy ( E), frequency factor ( s) and the order of kinetics of the 240 °C TL identification peak in polymineral dust material. The experimental and computerized deconvolution results are consistent with the presence of a closely overlapping second-order TL peaks in the identification peak at 240 °C. The TL kinetic parameters of overlapping peaks were estimated by computerized deconvolution method. The computer deconvolution shows the existence of four well-defined TL peaks at 118, 210, 270 and 305 °C. These four peaks probably due to the combined TL of quartz and feldspar minerals.