Sampling for thoracic aerosol.
Particle Size-Selective Sampling of Particulate Air Contaminants. Vincent JH, ed., Cincinnati, OH: American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, 1998 Jun; :141-153
There are two possible approaches to sampling for thoracic particulate matter (TPM). The simplest is to use a sampler whose collection efficiency as a function of particle aerodynamic diameter (dae) satisfies the acceptance criteria. Such a TPM sampler consists of an inlet, a size-fractionating stage, which is sometimes integral with the inlet, and a particle collector, which is usually a filter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has defined the PM10 sampling convention to have a 50% cut point at dae= 10 microm. The slope of the PM10 curve is similar to, though differs slightly from, the TPM curve (see Figure 7.1) (John, 1993). The most significant difference is at the large particle ends of the curves. The bias of the PM10 convention relative to the thoracic convention is calculated and presented in Figure 7.2 for a range of log normal particle size distributions. This figure shows that although the difference is small over a wide range of conditions, it can become significant if the particle size distribution being sampled is rich in coarse particles. It should be noted, however, that some PM10 samplers have an efficiency curve with a large-particle tail approximating that of the thoracic curve (see Figure 7.1).
Respirable-dust; Particulates; Particulate-sampling-methods; Aerosols; Aerosol-particles; Sampling; Sampling-methods; Sampling-equipment
Book or book chapter
Particle Size-Selective Sampling of Particulate Air Contaminants