Collection efficiency of membrane filters for respirable size-selective sampling

Details

• Personal Author:
  Harper M ; Kashon M ; Lee T ; Soo J
• Description:
  Objective: To measure the collection efficiency of commercial air sampling filters with polydisperse sodium chloride (NaCl) under different filter pore sizes and sampling flow rates for respirable size selective samplers. Methods: Collection efficiency experiments were conducted with four different 37 mm diameter membrane filters: mixed cellulose ester (MCE; 0.45, 0.8, 1.2 and 5 um pore sizes), polycarbonate (0.4, 0.8, 2 and 5 um pore sizes), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE; 0.45, 1, 2 and 5 um pore sizes), polyvinyl chloride (PVC; 0.8 and 5 um pore sizes) and silver membrane (0.45, 0.8, 1.2 and 5 um pore sizes) with polydisperse NaCl in the size range of 10-400 nm. Test aerosols were nebulized and introduced into a calm air chamber through a diffusion dryer and aerosol neutralizer. The testing filters were mounted in a conductive polypropylene cassette within a metal testing tube at the flow rate varied between 1.7 and 11.2 l min-1. A Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS, Model 3936, TSI, Inc.) was used to count number particle concentration before (Cin) and after (Cout) test filters. The different pressure across the filter was measured with a digital manometer. The total number of runs was 1044 (29 filter types with different pore sizes x 4 sampling flow rates x 3 filters x 3 replicates). Results: In general, the collection efficiency varied with flow rate, pore size, and sampling duration. Collection efficiency and pressure drop increased with decreased pore size and increased sampling flow rate, but they differed among filter types and brand. The collection efficiencies of the MCE, PTFE and PVC filters were > 92% under all test conditions while the collection efficiencies of the polycarbonate and silver membrane filters were in the range of 40.2 to 99.6% and 38.6 to >99.9%, respectively. Conclusions: The present study confirmed that the MCE, PTFE and PVC filters have a relatively large collection efficiency for challenged nanoparticles much smaller than their nominal pore size and have significantly larger sampling efficiency than that of polycarbonate and silver membrane filters at large pore sizes. The collection efficiency of polycarbonate and silver membrane filters varied with flow rate, pore size, and time duration. Although collection efficiency increased with decreased pore size and increased flow rate so, also, did pressure drop across the filter. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Air Samplers Air Samples Air Sampling Equipment Filters Nanoparticles Nanotechnology Particulates Polyvinyl Chloride PVC
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; 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:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20048220
• Citation:
  AIHce 2016: American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition Pathways to Progress, May 21-26, 2016, Baltimore, Maryland. Falls Church, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2016 May; :2
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  AIHce 2016: American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition Pathways to Progress, May 21-26, 2016, Baltimore, Maryland
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e1b0d3e1514f0c0b8546d56d5d004e685fff0fc7181504cd8ddadc2325f2b2fd11fa3727f2f72798b5bc9a01033b3471915f58a670727643345b08dba1d35b56
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203028/cdc_203028_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.36 MB ]