Abstract
ABSTRACTBulk sampling of aerosols is often needed for the determination of physical properties, chemical composition and toxicity assessments of airborne particulate matter. Conventional aerosol samplers have several limitations for use as bulk aerosol collectors including cost, noise levels, power requirements associated with the use of a pump, limited flow rate, and a relatively long sampling time needed to collect sufficient mass to achieve gravimetric or other method limits of detection. In this study, a low-cost ionic charging device (ICD) was evaluated that addresses many of the drawbacks of conventional aerosol samplers. Different types of particles including incense fume, Arizona Road Dust (ARD) powders and Polystyrene Latex (PSL) spheres of different sizes were aerosolized then sampled using three ICDs and compared to conventional inhalable and PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 100 µm and 2.5 µm, respectively) aerosol samplers in a controlled laboratory chamber at varying concentrations. The device was also evaluated in indoor environments. ICDs operate at almost 18.5 times higher flow rate than conventional personal samplers and provided up to 9 times greater total collected mass compared to the conventional samplers over the same time frame. Using a regression analysis, aerosol-specific linear equations with slopes (CPM2.5/CICD) from 1.21 to 7.10 and R2 from 0.74 to 0.99 for estimating the inhalable and PM2.5 mass concentrations using the ICD were derived. This study suggests that the ICD provides a less accurate estimate of size-selective PM mass concentrations than conventional personal aerosol samplers; however, it collects coarse particles efficiently and increases total sampled mass per time at a lower cost and without noise associated with traditional sampling methods. Therefore, the ICD can be used as a bulk aerosol collector for composition analyses and in-vitro toxicology tests of coarse PM.
Highlights
Aerosol samplers are widely used in air quality studies to estimate the mass concentration of particulate matter (PM) and to assess the degree of its health hazard
This study suggests that the ionic charging device (ICD) provides a less accurate estimate of size-selective PM mass concentrations than conventional personal aerosol samplers; it collects coarse particles efficiently and increases total sampled mass per time at a lower cost and without noise associated with traditional sampling methods
Inspired by the corona discharge mechanism often applied in electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) (Mizuno 2000), an ionic charging device (ICD, Inspirotec Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) has been evaluated as a potential platform for bulk aerosol sampling, which can address some of the challenges associated with filter-based and impaction-based PM sampling
Summary
Aerosol samplers are widely used in air quality studies to estimate the mass concentration of particulate matter (PM) and to assess the degree of its health hazard. PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 or 2.5 micrometers, respectively), are used to evaluate exposures to aerosols in occupational (Li et al, 2000) and indoor settings (Ward and Noonan, 2008; McCormack et al, 2009). Such samplers have the advantage of being portable and can be used with battery-powered personal sampling pumps. The electrostatic field strength in the neighborhood of the wire is extraordinarily high and non-uniform This leads to frequent collisions of the positive ions generated from the charging wire electrode with electrically neutral air molecules. In order to minimize the ozone often formed as a byproduct of any ESP device, a catalyst block of honeycomb ceramic coated with MnO2 was placed in front of the charging electrode (Gordon, 2015)
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