Abstract
The aim of this experimental study was to investigate the performance of both portable and transportable devices devoted to the real-time measurement of airborne particle number concentration and size (distribution). Electrical mobility spectrometers (SMPS, FMPS, Nanoscan) as well as diffusion chargers (DiSCmini, Nanotracer) were studied. Both monodisperse and polydisperse aerosols were produced within the CAIMAN facility to challenge the instruments. The monodisperse test aerosols were selected in the 15-400 nm diameter range using a differential mobility analyser (DMA), and presented number concentrations of between 6.102 and 2.105 cm−3. The polydisperse test aerosols presented modal diameters of between 8 and 270 nm and number concentrations between 4.103 to 106 cm−3. The behavior of the different devices is expressed as (1) the ratio of the reported diameter to the reference diameter, and (2) the ratio of the reported number concentration to the reference concentration. These results are displayed as boxplots to better represent the statistical distribution of the experimental results. For the group of electrical mobility spectrometers, a good agreement between SMPS and FMPS and the reference was demonstrated. A slight tendency for the Nanoscan to underestimate particle size distribution for particles above around 100 nm was observed. The data reported for the group of diffusion chargers demonstrate that all, except the Nanotracer, show a tendency to underestimate particle diameter, by a factor around −40% to −10%. In the case of particle concentration, larger deviations were observed.
Highlights
Nanomaterials have been increasingly developed and used in many technology and industry sectors over the last 20 years, and increasing numbers of workers are likely exposed to airborne nanoparticles [1]
Experiments consisted of measuring in parallel the aerosols produced during a 5- to 30-minute period when the test aerosol is stable and when a sufficient number of scans can be measured by means of (1)
All instruments were challenged by a set of monodisperse and polydisperse test aerosols covering a wide range of diameters and number concentrations
Summary
Nanomaterials have been increasingly developed and used in many technology and industry sectors over the last 20 years, and increasing numbers of workers are likely exposed to airborne nanoparticles [1]. In addition to chemical composition, airborne particle number concentration as well as particle size are among the parameters of interest [5] as they allow determination of the nanoparticle quantity and indicate the region of the respiratory tract where inhaled nanoparticles will be deposited and potentially interact. Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd during production, handling and use of manufactured nanomaterials have recently been proposed [612] and tested in various workplace environments [13,14,15,16,17,18]. These strategies emphasize the utility of real-time instruments
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