Development and characterization of an exposure platform suitable for physico-chemical, morphological and toxicological characterization of printer-emitted particles (PEPs)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bello D ; Castranova, Vincent ; Demokritou P ; Pirela SV ; Pyrgiotakis G ; Thomas T
• Description:
  An association between laser printer use and emissions of particulate matter (PM), ozone and volatile organic compounds has been reported in recent studies. However, the detailed physico-chemical, morphological and toxicological characterization of these printer-emitted particles (PEPs) and possible incorporation of engineered nanomaterials into toner formulations remain largely unknown. In this study, a printer exposure generation system suitable for the physico-chemical, morphological, and toxicological characterization of PEPs was developed and used to assess the properties of PEPs from the use of commercially available laser printers. The system consists of a glovebox type environmental chamber for uninterrupted printer operation, real-time and time-integrated particle sampling instrumentation for the size fractionation and sampling of PEPs and an exposure chamber for inhalation toxicological studies. Eleven commonly used laser printers were evaluated and ranked based on their PM emission profiles. Results show PM peak emissions are brand independent and varied between 3000 to 1,300,000 particles/cm(3), with modal diameters ranging from 49 to 208 nm, with the majority of PEPs in the nanoscale (<100 nm) size. Furthermore, it was shown that PEPs can be affected by certain operational parameters and printing conditions. The release of nanoscale particles from a nano-enabled product (printer toner) raises questions about health implications to users. The presented PEGS platform will help in assessing the toxicological profile of PEPs and the link to the physico-chemical and morphological properties of emitted PM and toner formulations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Chemistry Environmental Monitoring Ink Occupational Health Particulate Matter Printing Respiratory System Safety Toxicology
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Exposure Platform Chemical-properties Emission-sources Exposure-assessment Exposure-chambers Exposure-methods Inhalation-studies Laser Printers Lasers Morphology Nanoparticles Nanotechnology Occupational Exposures Organic-compounds Particulate-sampling-methods Particulates Physical-properties Physiological-chemistry Printer Emitted Particles Printers Printing-inks Volatiles

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• ISSN:
  0895-8378
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  400-408
• Volume:
  26
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044572
• Citation:
  Inhal Toxicol 2014 Jun; 26(7):400-408
• Contact Point Address:
  Philip Demokritou, Department of Environmental Health, Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
• Email:
  pdemokri@hsph.harvard.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Ozone (CAS RN 10028-15-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Inhalation Toxicology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:73a08c81bc1e179280d7581c913e161a0b406c24d888a022aac2920211a355bfeb14669a865177035d8ef30321798e6df156bbfb7091a3b03fde771724f462f8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200246/cdc_200246_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.23 MB ]