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Theory
Loss on Ignition (LOI) is procedure usually implemented by Geologists to determine the chemical make up for a sample of soil. Soil is composed of living organisms, water, carbonates, carbon containing material, decomposing matter and much more. To determine how much one of these soil components make up the entire soil mass, the LOI procedure is implemented. Initially, the researcher will take the mass of the sample prior to LOI and then place the sample into a heating device. Depending on what the researcher is trying to determine in the soil, the temperature of the device can be set to the corresponding temperature. The soil sample is kept at this temperature for an extended period of time after which it is removed and allowed to cool down before re-weighing the sample. The amount of mass lost after the LOI treatment is equal to the mass of the component the researcher is trying to determine. The typical set of materials needed to use LOI include: high precision mass balance, a dying oven, temperature controlled furnace, preheated crucibles and soil sample from the location of interest. Typically, this method is used to determine water content levels, carbon levels, amount of organic matter levels, amount of volatile compounds. LOI is also used in the cement industry which operates the furnace in the 950 celsius range, combustion engineers also use LOI but at temperatures lower than 950 celsius range. A complete procedure for LOI can be found below, keep in mind however that some of the steps may need to be modified depending on the intended use of LOI.

Safety
In many research labs, the use of asbestos gloves is required when operating the furnace as it can reach very hot temperatures. The use of face masks is also recommended at higher temperatures to ensure safety of researchers and junior lab members. It is also recommended that researchers performing LOI procedure remove all jewelry and watches as they are great conductors of heat. When removing samples at high temperatures, these accessories can easily heat up and result in burns.

Other Uses
The cement industry uses the LOI method by heating up a cement sample to 900-1000 degrees celsius, and it heated until the mass of the sample stabilizes. Once the mass has stabilized the mass lost due to LOI is determined. This is usually done to determine the high water content in the cement or carbonation as these reduce the quality of cement. High losses are usually due to poor storage conditions of cement or manipulation of cement quality by suppliers. This ensures that the cement used in a site is of the correct composition to meet safety protocols and requirements of customers.

In the mining industry the use of LOI is vital in determining moisture and volatile material present in the rock. Hence when performing whole-rock analysis to determine total volatiles the LOI method is used. In order to remove all volatiles and to oxidize all iron into iron oxides, the temperature of the LOI is set to 900-1000 degrees Celsius.