Bioaerosol Emission from Vortex Liquids Contaminated with Escherichia coli Bacteria

Abstract

Vortex fluids are often present in natural and artificial aquatic environments and are also widely used in industrial water treatment and product manufacturing processes. Vortex processes have been studied quite extensively; however, little attention has been paid to the potential release of biological aerosols to the ambient air in common situations involving microbial-contaminated vortex liquids. The model organism was Escherichia coli, a common Gram-negative coliform bacterium widely present in the aquatic and air environments. This study examines the influence of various parameters, including liquid rotation speed, column height, temperature, surface tension and vessel size, on the rate of bioaerosol formation. A commonly used single-stage bioaerosol impactor was employed to collect microbial aerosols at different process parameters under controlled laboratory conditions. The main results show that bioaerosol production increases markedly with increasing rotation speed, reaching a maximum rate at the highest value used in this project (1300 rpm). The tallness of the liquid column is strongly responsible for the bioaerosol production efficiency reaching a difference of almost one order of magnitude along the range between 45 mm (highest bioaerosol release) and 110 mm used in this research. Fluid temperature and surface tension are also very influential parameters responsible for bioaerosol generation during fluid vortex motion; corresponding results are discussed in this manuscript.