PM2.5 or respirable dust measurement and their use for assessment of dust separators

Abstract

Abstract Different dust fractions, e.g. PM2.5 for environment- and PM4 for workplace limits, are in use to describe the respirable dust amount. International and national standards describe thereby different cut-off limits, measurement methods and calculation procedures. Especially continuous measuring devices that commonly work with optical or electronical auxiliary aids, cannot measure the same absolute respirable dust fraction, because of possible measuring errors. In order to solve this problem, laborious and costly procedures are necessary to have valid results merely for the calibrated dust. If not the measurement of a PM2.5 value for controlling standard dust limits, which are gravimetric defined, is the priority and regarding only the assessment and optimization of dust separators concerning to their respirable dust separation, a simplest possible measurement technique would be sufficient. In this paper, a method for the assessment of the respirable dust separation efficiency using solely an optical particle counter is presented. In addition, the application of this method is shown on the optimization of a special wet-scrubber and on the classification of cleanable dust filter media regarding their respirable dust separation efficiency and their energy consumption.