Shirdel Mariam, Bergdahl Ingvar A, Andersson Britt M, Wingfors Håkan, Sommar Johan N, Liljelind Ingrid E
Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University , Umeå , Sweden.
Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University , Umeå , Sweden.
J Occup Environ Hyg. 2019 Oct;16(10):675-684. doi: 10.1080/15459624.2019.1648814. Epub 2019 Aug 23.
The aim of this study was to make a preliminary evaluation of the University of North Carolina passive aerosol sampler (UNC sampler) for personal air sampling of particles. Nine personal air samplings of respirable fraction were conducted in an open-pit mine, with pairwise UNC samplers and a respirable cyclone mounted on the chest of workers. UNC samples were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and to some extent energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Respirable cyclone filter samples were weighed. Correlations and particle elemental compositions were described. Microscopic imaging of the collection surface showed that the particles were heterogeneously deposited across the surface of the UNC sampler. Collected particles were shaped as gravel particles and the resulting particle size distribution in air showed a peak at ca. 3 µm aerodynamic diameter, similarly to what has previously been reported from the same mine. The elemental composition indicated mineral origin. All correlations between the airborne mass concentrations from UNC samplers and respirable cyclones (Pearson = 0.54 and Spearman = 0.43) and between pairs of parallel UNC samplers (Pearson = 0.55 and Spearman = 0.67) were weak. The UNC sampler mass concentrations were approximately 30 times higher than those measured with the respirable cyclone. In conclusion, the UNC sampler, when used for personal sampling in a mine, provides a reasonable particle size distribution and the deposited particles appeared to be of mineral origin and not from textile or skin but the approximately 30-fold overestimation of mass concentrations when comparing with respirable cyclone sampling indicates that further improvements are necessary. Positioning of the sampler may be critical and moving the UNC sampler from the chest to e.g. the top of a helmet might be an improvement. Grounding of the sampler in order to avoid static electricity might also be useful. The UNC sampler should continue to be researched for personal sampling, as passive sampling might become a useful alternative to more laborious sampling techniques.
本研究的目的是对北卡罗来纳大学被动式气溶胶采样器（UNC采样器）用于个人空气颗粒物采样进行初步评估。在一个露天矿进行了9次可吸入颗粒物的个人空气采样，将成对的UNC采样器和一个可吸入旋风分离器安装在工人胸部。对UNC采样器的样本进行扫描电子显微镜（SEM）分析，并在一定程度上进行能量色散X射线光谱（EDS）分析。对可吸入旋风分离器的过滤样本进行称重。描述了相关性和颗粒物元素组成。收集表面的显微镜成像显示，颗粒物在UNC采样器表面的沉积不均匀。收集到的颗粒物形状如砾石颗粒，空气中由此产生的粒径分布在空气动力学直径约3 µm处出现峰值，这与之前从同一矿山报道的情况类似。元素组成表明其来源于矿物。UNC采样器与可吸入旋风分离器的空气中质量浓度之间（Pearson相关系数 = 0.54，Spearman相关系数 = 0.43）以及成对的平行UNC采样器之间（Pearson相关系数 = 0.55，Spearman相关系数 = 0.67）的所有相关性都较弱。UNC采样器的质量浓度比用可吸入旋风分离器测量的浓度高出约30倍。总之，UNC采样器在矿山用于个人采样时，能提供合理的粒径分布，沉积的颗粒物似乎来源于矿物而非纺织品或皮肤，但与可吸入旋风分离器采样相比，质量浓度被高估了约30倍，这表明有必要进一步改进。采样器的位置可能至关重要，将UNC采样器从胸部移至例如头盔顶部可能是一种改进。对采样器进行接地以避免静电也可能有用。UNC采样器应继续用于个人采样研究，因为被动采样可能成为更繁琐采样技术的有用替代方法。
