Measurement and control of airborne microorganisms using electrostatic methods

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baron, Paul A. ; Gorny R ; Grinshpun S ; Mainelis G ; Reponen T ; Willeke K
• Description:
  Most of the widely used bioaerosol sampling devices employ collection techniques that are known to reduce viability of sampled microorganisms. An electrostatic collection method, where airborne particles are electrically charged and then removed from the air by electrostatic forces, has the potential for being a "gentle" collection technique. Our tests with an Electrostatic Aerosol Sampler showed that charged microorganisms could be effectively removed from the airstream. However, charging by a conventional corona discharge inactivated sensitive airborne cells. The goal of this study was to determine how the bacterial recovery and injury depended on the amount of electric charge imparted on bacteria. In our tests, the charging of airborne microorganisms was achieved not by the traditionally used corona discharge, but by applying induction charging. In this setting, bacteria were aerosolized and then imparted a charge ranging from -10,000 to + 10,000 elementary charges. The bacteria carrying a desired electric charge were selected using a parallel plate mobility analyzer and collected with a BioSampler (SKC Inc., Eighty Four, PA) for a subsequent analysis of their relative recovery and injury. The results showed that the relative recovery of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacterial cells carrying from -4,100 to +30 electrical charges ranged from 40 to 60%, while the recovery of the same cells carrying about -9,000 charges was below 20%. The relative recovery of P. fluorescens cells carrying more than 2,700 positive charges was less than 1.5%. In contrast, the relative recovery of Bacillus subtilis var niger did not depend on the amount of imparted electric charge. The extent of metabolic and structural injury of P. fluorescells cells also did not depend on the amount of electric charge carried by airborne bacteria. The study showed that polarity and magnitude of imparted electric charge is very important when developing microorganism collection methods employing electrostatics. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Bacteria Cells, Cultured Dust Microbiology Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Aerosol-particles Airborne-dusts Airborne-particles Bacterial-dusts Cell-biology Cell-cultures Cellular-function Cellular-reactions Electrical-charge Electrostatic-fields Force Injuries Microorganisms Sampling-equipment

  More +
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DPSE - Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041345
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 2-7, 2001, New Orleans, Louisiana. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2001 Jun; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 2-7, 2001, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e930f5904f1bdf9860f3cbcce900d1f1b800dfe9d4dc525423320aea1c9f231e024ec2e6021c7c149461ebc5663ec22eefb583134a293f76404de824cd67575a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193939/cdc_193939_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 916.93 KB ]