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A PERSONAL PARTICLE SPECIATION SAMPLER
Impact/Purpose:
Particulate matter (PM) in ambient air is a complex mixture containing particles of different sizes and chemical composition. Characterizing the composition of particles and linking it to toxicity may help reveal the underlying biological mechanisms of health effects, and in turn that information may point the regulatory community to the types of particles most likely associated with toxic effects. In addition, characterizing particles may help to trace particles back to their sources.
Epidemiology studies often use area measures of exposure as surrogates for personal exposure measurements. Exposure of individuals reflects local conditions and time-activity patterns that can vary greatly from exposure measured by the centrally based monitors. Personal monitors can better represent such actual individual exposure and thus have been incorporated into some studies examining PM. Because the components of PM responsible for adverse health effects are not always evident, however, personal monitors are needed that can collect information on different aspects of PM, including physical and chemical constituents—both organic and inorganic. This information is important both to complement epidemiology studies and to understand how different sources contribute to an individual’s overall exposure. However, no single method allows determination of all characteristics of PM, and different sampling substrates are needed for assessing the presence and concentrations of the PM constituents of interest. The investigators objective for the study described in this report is to design a personal monitor that addresses these needs.
Description:
Dr. Susanne Hering of Aerosol Dynamics Inc and her colleagues expect to design and validate a personal monitoring sampler for particles smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) that is suitable for subsequent chemical speciation work. The investigators believe the result will be a sampler intended to meet the measurement needs for PM2.5 mass concentration and several of its major constituents including elemental carbon, organic carbon, sulfates, and nitrates. The investigators plan to select and test individual components of the sampler and then performed limited field tests of a prototype that incorporates the testing for specific design components.