Ferrante Riccardo, Boccuni Fabio, Tombolini Francesca, Natale Claudio, Lega Daniela, Antonini Alessandra, Iavicoli Sergio
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian Workers' Compensation Authority, Via Fontana Candida 1, I-00078 Rome, Italy.
Research Centre on Nanotechnology Applied to Engineering (CNIS), Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering, Sapienza University of Rom, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Apr 24;12(9):1448. doi: 10.3390/nano12091448.
Engineered nanoscale amorphous silica nanomaterials are widespread and used in many industrial sectors. Currently, some types of silicon-based nanozeolites (NZs) have been synthesized, showing potential advantages compared to the analogous micro-forms; otherwise, few studies are yet available regarding their potential toxicity. In this respect, the aim of the present work is to investigate the potential exposure to airborne Linde Type A (LTA) NZs on which toxicological effects have been already assessed. Moreover, the contributions to the background related to the main emission sources coming from the outdoor environment (i.e., vehicular traffic and anthropogenic activities) were investigated as possible confounding factors. For this purpose, an LTA NZ production line in an industrial factory has been studied, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines on multi-metric approach to investigate airborne nanoparticles at the workplace. The main emission sources of nanoparticulate matter within the working environment have been identified by real-time measurements (particle number concentration, size distribution, average diameter, and lung-deposited surface area). Events due to LTA NZ spillage in the air during the cleaning phases have been chemically and morphologically characterized by ICP-MS and SEM analysis, respectively.
工程化纳米级无定形二氧化硅纳米材料广泛存在并应用于许多工业领域。目前，已经合成了一些类型的硅基纳米沸石（NZs），与类似的微形态相比显示出潜在优势；否则，关于其潜在毒性的研究还很少。在这方面，本工作的目的是研究暴露于空气中的林德A型（LTA）NZs的潜在情况，其毒理学效应已经得到评估。此外，还研究了来自室外环境（即车辆交通和人为活动）的主要排放源对背景的贡献，将其作为可能的混杂因素。为此，根据经济合作与发展组织（OECD）关于在工作场所调查空气中纳米颗粒的多指标方法指南，对一家工业工厂中的LTA NZ生产线进行了研究。通过实时测量（颗粒数浓度、尺寸分布、平均直径和肺部沉积表面积）确定了工作环境中纳米颗粒物的主要排放源。在清洁阶段期间空气中LTA NZ泄漏事件分别通过ICP-MS和SEM分析进行了化学和形态表征。
