Abstract
Objectives: This study focused on three aspects: characterizing concentrations of airborne particles by size distributions and asbestos fibers generated by various building materials; analyzing the characteristics of fibers produced by each simulation and asbestos fibers released from ACBMs; and investigating correlations of airborne asbestos fibers and particles generated and association of particle and asbestos concentrations. Methods: We selected three ACBMs including an insulation board, cement asbestos slate and wallboard. We constructed 4 scenarios; a) crushing with a hammer; b) cutting with a industrial knife; c) brushing with a metal brush; and d) tightening & loosening with a hand drill. We implemented one simulation for 30 seconds followed by 30 seconds resting period. We repeated a total of 5 cycles for 5 minutes. Results: The highest concentration of particulate & fibrous matters was from crushing with a hammer in each scenario followed by brushing with a metal brush, cutting with a industrial knife, and tightening & loosening with a hand drill. For ACBMs studied, asbestos concentrations were highest from an insulation board followed by cement asbestos slate, and wallboard. No difference in terms of concentration was found between an insulation board and asbestos slate. Fibers with 5~20 μm in length were included in 76~90% of total fibrous matters. The distribution of the straight form fibers was greater than that of the curl form. About 90% of PMTotal released from ACBMs was consisted of PM10 while only 10% of PMTotal was PM2.5. Particulate matters like PM2.5 was significantly correlated with fibrous matters(R 2 =0.81). Conclusions: We found ACBMs can significantly release asbestos fibers as well as PM2.5. Concentrations of asbestos generated by ACBMs were well correlated with PM2.5.
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More From: Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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