Induction Charging and Electrostatic Classification of Micrometer-Size Particles for Investigating the Electrobiological Properties of Airborne Microorganisms

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baron, Paul A. ; Grinshpun SA ; Mainelis G ; Reponen T ; Willeke K
• Description:
  Our earlier studies have shown that the electrostatic collection technique, a potentially "gentle" bioaerosol collection method, allows for efficient collection of airborne bacteria, but sensitive bacteria such as Pseudomonasfluorescens (P.fluorescens) lose their culturability during collection. We hypothesized that excessive stress was imposed on the sensitive bacteria by the sampler's conventional corona charging mechanism. In this research, we developed and built an experimental setup that allows us to analyze electro-biological properties of airborne microorganisms. In this experimental system, we imparted electric charges on airborne biological and nonbiological particles by aerosolizing them in the presence of an electric field. The charged P. fluorescens test bacteria and NaCI test particles were then channeled into a parallel plate mobility analyzer, which we have designed so that bacteria and inert particles carrying specific charge ranges can be extracted and made available for further analysis. When testing the experimental system, we related the extracted particle concentrations to the total particle concentration and obtained the charge distributions of these particles at different charging conditions. Our results have ( shown that even without charging, aerosolized P. fluorescens bacteria have a net negative charge and can carry up to 13,000 elementary charges per bacterium. In contrast, the NaCI particles were found to carry very few electric charges. We concluded that the electric charge carried by a bacterium consists of 2 components: its own natural charge, which can be high, and the charge imposed on it by the dispersion process. Our experiments have shown that the charge distributions on biological and non biological particles can be effectively manipulated by varying the external electric field during their aerosolization. Since airborne microorganisms may carry high internal electric charges, their collection by electrical field forces may be possible without first electrically charging them. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Electricity Environmental Monitoring Microbiology Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Aerosol-generators Air-sampling Air-sampling-equipment Air-sampling-techniques Airborne-particles Electrical-charge Electrical-fields Kinetics Microorganisms
• ISSN:
  0278-6826
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  479-491
• Volume:
  36
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022255
• Citation:
  Aerosol Sci Technol 2002 Apr; 36(4):479-491
• Contact Point Address:
  Gediminas Mainelis, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of NewJersey, 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08902
• Email:
  mainelis@envsci.rutgers.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Exposure Assessment Methods
• Performing Organization:
  University of Cincinnati
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19970930
• Source Full Name:
  Aerosol Science and Technology
• End Date:
  20030331
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b63fa1e50d57821be1287d89f260ed126f4bfdc26d8f370ef395530589c9329315942eee64e09ecd610b6f54849f2ca4095c6e5dfca7acb2704dd9f63f1e2687
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199091/cdc_199091_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 586.73 KB ]