As a contribution to the current discussion about fine dust and fine quartz and cristobalite particulate emissions and immissions, the authors point out the role the flat glass industry plays in this context. The main part of the raw material used in this industry is quartz sand, but the latter's granulometry is such that it contains practically no fine particles. This fact is inherent in undisturbed glass production because quartz sand particles with grain size below 80um would cause bad glass quality. Also, other possible sources for silicon dioxide in the flue gas are discussed. In order to show the composition of the dust escaped to the electrostatic precipitators, the filters exclusively used in flat glass production, a number of quartz glass fibre filters used to measure the dust content in various plants were analysed by X-ray diffraction and SEM.
