Evaluation of Alternative Annular Denuder Systems for the Collection of Fine Aerosol Particulate Matter

Spencer Spencer,Osborne Osborne,Van Heyst Van Heyst

doi:10.3390/agriengineering2010007

Evaluation of Alternative Annular Denuder Systems for the Collection of Fine Aerosol Particulate Matter

Spencer Spencer, Osborne Osborne + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriengineering2010007

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Journal: AgriEngineering	Publication Date: Feb 7, 2020
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Guelph

Abstract

Due to the complex manner in which secondary inorganic aerosols (SIAs) form, a need exists to develop a methodology to measure PM2.5 emissions from agricultural operations to better understand the contribution of SIAs to the PM2.5 fraction. When sampling particulate matter (PM), annular denuder systems (ADS) are a United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) approved system used to measure both gaseous and particulate components of aerosols. While collecting basic gases, such as ammonia, using nine denuders was feasibly demonstrated in poultry housing units but the ability of additional denuders to accurately collect the SIAs on the filters is yet to be demonstrated. An experiment was designed to assess particle deposition behaviors throughout three different ADS configurations. It was determined that the nine denuder configuration resulted in particles being impacted and retained, mainly in the U-bend junctions, prior to reaching the filters with only 87.2% of PM2.5 reaching the filter pack. The US EPA-prescribed ADS configuration had 99.4% of PM2.5 reaching the filters, indicating that there is an impact due to the U-Bend addition to the system. It was further demonstrated that having additional denuders in series with no U-Bend had no significant impact on PM2.5 deposition on the filters with 98.9% of PM2.5 being collected.

Highlights

Air quality concerns continue to propagate globally due to their negative impacts on animal, human, and ecosystem health
Of the two size fractions, PM2.5 is of greater concern with respect to human health effects, as the smaller diameter of the particles allows it to penetrate deeper into the lungs where it becomes difficult for the body to expel
While the 9-annular denuder systems (ADS) set-up established previously [14] is effective at capturing the vast majority of particles on the filter surfaces, it does have the drawback of underestimating the total aerosol gas and particulate concentrations due to the two Teflon U-Bends

Summary

Introduction

Air quality concerns continue to propagate globally due to their negative impacts on animal, human, and ecosystem health. Particulate matter (PM) is a specific constituent of air pollution that has increasingly garnered concern due to the growing body of scientific evidence of the impact it has on the environment and human health [1,2,3,4,5]. PM is broken down into categories based on the size fractions of the particles. Of the two size fractions, PM2.5 is of greater concern with respect to human health effects, as the smaller diameter of the particles allows it to penetrate deeper into the lungs where it becomes difficult for the body to expel. The toxins often carried with the fine particles can diffuse into the bloodstream via the alveoli [6]

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