Cryogenic Aerosol Generation: Airborne Mist Particles Surrounding Liquid Nitrogen.

Byung Uk Lee

doi:10.3390/ijerph17031071

Abstract

Aerosol mist particles generated near the surface of a liquid nitrogen container were measured and analyzed. The particles present at various distances from the boiling surface of liquid nitrogen were detected using an optical particle counter. In this experiment, 3 micrometer particles exhibited a more than 100-fold increase in concentration due to the liquid nitrogen surface. However, 0.3 micrometer and 10 micrometer particles showed smaller variations (2% to 79%) in their concentrations in the vicinity of liquid nitrogen. The distance from the boiling surface of the liquid nitrogen strongly affected the variations in particle concentration. The variations in aerosol concentrations were significant within 20 cm of the liquid nitrogen surface. These results can be considered as a useful quantitative environmental guideline in cryogenic studies that use liquid nitrogen, and this concept can be applied to cryogenic aerosol mist generation mechanisms.

Highlights

Aerosol generation mechanisms have been researched and used in various aerosol studies [1,2,3,4].Liquid nebulizers, air feeders, and spark generators have been developed for submicron particles, coarse particles, and nanoparticles, respectively, for aerosol experimental purposes [5,6,7]
Public Health 2020, 17, 1071 mist particles were strongly affected by the liquid nitrogen up to a distance of 20 cm from the liquid nitrogen surface, whereas they returned to their ordinary levels at distances greater than 30 cm from the liquid nitrogen surface
Aerosol mist particles of sizes ranging from 1 to 5 μm were generated in the vicinity of 10 to 20 cm from the LN2 boiling surface

Summary

Introduction

Aerosol generation mechanisms have been researched and used in various aerosol studies [1,2,3,4]. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 1071 mist particles were strongly affected by the liquid nitrogen up to a distance of 20 cm from the liquid nitrogen surface, whereas they returned to their ordinary levels at distances greater than 30 cm from the liquid nitrogen surface. Public Health 2020, 17, 1071 mist particles were strongly affected by the liquid nitrogen up to a distance of 20 cm from the liquid nitrogen surface, whereas they returned to their ordinary levels at distances greater than 30 cm from the liquid nitrogen surface These experiments demonstrate that liquid nitrogen environments can be regarded as a method of mist particle generation for energy and environmental studies. The generated particles in the vicinity of a liquid nitrogen container can be used for studying air quality control devices for public health issues

Methods

Results and Discussion

Conclusions