CHARACTERIZATION OF AEROSOL PARTICLES IN A MECHANICAL WORKSHOP ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Indoor aerosols are directly affecting human lives. Especially aerosols in workshops, factories, and laboratories, where many chemical substances are used in treatment and production processes, might contain toxic elements: special care must be taken to alleviate air pollution and assure a clean breathing environment for the workers. For this study, size segregated aerosol particle sampling with a cascade impactor was performed in the machine workshop of Jožef Stefan Institute. The samples, collected during weekdays and weekend were analyzed with a microbeam facility at Tohoku University. Bulk PIXE analysis with scanning over the whole sample area was conducted along with multimodal microanalysis with microscopic scanning. Using bulk analysis, high concentrations of Pb and Ba were detected on weekend days, which was related to the removal of an old white paint from the furniture. On weekdays, concentrations of W and of soil origin elements increased, probably because of the machine operations and worker movements. At the same time high concentration of sulfur was detected. A microscopic multimodal analysis shows that it stems from a lubricant oil vapor. The combination of bulk and microanalysis of the size selected samples is an effective approach to aerosol characterization in the working environment.