Development of a Personal Sampler for Nanoparticles

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chen YS
• Description:
  The development and commercialization of nanotechnology have been growing very rapidly over the past few decades. As more engineered nanomaterials are being incorporated into products or devices, concerns about potential environmental and occupational health implications also increase. In particular, workers in the nanotechnology-based industry deserve more attention as they may have the greatest risk to expose to engineered nanoparticles which leads to adverse health effects. Furthermore, many toxicological and epidemiological studies have shown that inhaled nanoparticles pose a higher adverse effect than that of large particles, because the number and surface area concentrations of engineered nanoparticles are much higher than those of large particles with the same mass. Therefore, the assessment of the potential occupational health risks due to the exposure to engineered nanoparticles is essential to ensure their safe manufacturing and handling in the workplaces. Personal sampling is a better way to ensure accurate representation of the worker's exposure to ENMs than sampling at a fixed location. However, commercial samplers that sample particles in the nano-sized range such as the micro-orifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI), the low pressure impactor, or the electrical low pressure impactor, etc. are too heavy to be used as a personal sampler. The Marple Personal Cascade Impactor was developed as a personal cascade impactor with the 50% cutoff diameters of 21 to 0.4 um in its 0 to 8 stages and a backup filter, which does not cover the nano-sized range. There are no suitable personal samplers capable of assessing the exposure level of ultrafine particles or nanoparticles. The overall objective of this study is to develop a personal sampler capable of collecting the ultrafine particles (nanoparticles) in the occupational environment. This sampler consists of a cyclone for respirable particle classification, a micro-orifice impactor with a cutoff diameter of 100 nm for nanoparticle classification and a backup filter to collect nanoparticles. Collection efficiencies of the cyclone and impactor stages were determined using monodisperse polystyrene latex and silver particles, respectively. Calibration of the cyclone and impactor stages showed 50% cut-off diameters of 4 um and 100 nm meeting the design requirements. Aspiration efficiencies of the sampler were measured in a wind tunnel at a flow rate of 2 L/min with wind speeds of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m/s. The test samplers were mounted on a full size mannequin with three orientations toward the wind direction (0 degree, 90 degrees, and 180 degrees). Monodisperse oleic acid aerosols tagged with sodium fluorescein in the size range of 2 to 10 um were used in the test. For particles smaller than 2 um, the fluorescent polystyrene latex particles were generated by nebulizers. Results showed that the orientation-averaged aspiration efficiency for both samplers were close to the inhalable fraction curve. Our evaluation showed that the current design of the personal sampler met the designed criteria for collecting nanoparticles >100 nm in occupational environments. Comparison of TiO2 and carbon nanotube nanoparticles collection in the personal sampler with MOUDI impactor show good agreement indicating that the personal sampler is useful for collecting nanoparticles. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Health Epidemiology Hazardous Substances Occupational Health Particulate Matter Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Toxicology Workplace
• Keywords:
  Environmental-health Exposure-levels Health-hazards Nanotechnology Particulates Risk-factors Samplers Sampling Work-environment Workers
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  New Mexico ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-31
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20046129
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2015-104885
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R01-OH-009801, 2014 Nov; :1-31
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  Lovelace Biomedical & Environmental Research, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20100901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20140831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3d3fc6c13c0c09658aa67c724ac6b15158fec72faeb4ac4f29b55e6d5fef10795a5ae060e7e737f832e31f0f0f4ae50b7ed62ae79a15148208cd134f94c95abb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218594/cdc_218594_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 900.44 KB ]