Notice on a methodology for characterizing emissions of ultrafine particles/nanoparticles in microenvironments

Abstract

Notice on a methodology for characterizing emissions of ultrafine particles/nanoparticles in microenvironments João Fernando Pereira Gomes,1,2 Paula Cristina Silva Albuquerque,3 Helder Manuel Dias Salvação Esteves,4 Patrícia Almeida Carvalho5 1Chemical Engineering Department, ISEL, Lisbon Polytechnic, R. Conselheiro Emidio Navarro, Lisbon; 2IBB – Institute of Biotechnoloy and Bioengineering, IST, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon; 3ESTESL – School of Health Tecnologies, Lisbon Polytechnic, Lisbon; 4Bioengineering Department, IST, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon; 5InAir, Lda., Moita, Portugal Abstract: Bearing in mind the potential adverse health effects of ultrafine particles, it is of paramount importance to perform effective monitoring of nanosized particles in several microenvironments, which may include ambient air, indoor air, and also occupational environments. In fact, effective and accurate monitoring is the first step to obtaining a set of data that could be used further on to perform subsequent evaluations such as risk assessment and epidemiologic studies, thus proposing good working practices such as containment measures in order to reduce occupational exposure. This paper presents a useful methodology for monitoring ultrafine particles/nanoparticles in several microenvironments, using online analyzers and also sampling systems that allow further characterization on collected nanoparticles. This methodology was validated in three case studies presented in the paper, which assess monitoring of nanosized particles in the outdoor atmosphere, during cooking operations, and in a welding workshop. Keywords: ultrafine particles, exposure assessment, monitoring methodology