• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.197-205
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• 2003

A cascade impactor is a multistage impaction device used to separate airborne particles into aerodynamic size classes. A micro-orifice impactor uses micro-orifice nozzles to extend the cut sizes of the lower stages to as small as 0.05 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in diameter without resorting to low pressures or creating excessive pressure drops across the impactor stages. In this work, the phenomenon of particle clogging in micro-orifice nozzles was experimentally investigated for a commercial micro-orifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI). It was observed, using an optical microscope, that the micro-orifice nozzles of the final stages were partially clogged due to particle deposition during the aerosol sampling. Therefore the pressure drops across the nozzles were higher than the nominal values given by the manufacturer. To examine the effect of particle clogging in micro-orifice nozzles, the particle collection efficiency of the MOUDI was evaluated using an electrical method for fine particles with diameters in the range of 0.1-0.6 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. The monodisperse liquid dioctyl sebacate (DOS) particles were used as test aerosols. A faraday cage was employed to measure the low-level current of the charged particles upstream and downstream of each stage. It was found that the collection efficiency curves shifted to correspond to smaller orifice sizes, and the 50-% cutoff sizes were much smaller than those given by the manufacturer for the three stages with nozzles less than 400 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in diameter.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.78-86
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• 2018

Filter-based sampling techniques are the conventional way to collect particulate matter, but particles collected and entangled in the filter fibers are difficult to be removed and thus not suited for the following cell- and animal-based exposure experiments. Collecting aerosol particles in powder form using a cyclone instead of a filter would be a possible way to solve this problem. We developed a hybrid virtual-impactor/cyclone high-volume fine and coarse particle sampler and assessed its performance. The developed system achieved 50% collection efficiency with components having the following aerodynamic cut-off diameters: virtual impactor, $2.4{\mu}m$; fine-particle cyclone, $0.18-0.30{\mu}m$; and coarse-particle cyclone, $0.7{\mu}m$. The virtual impactor used in our set-up had good $PM_{2.5}$ separation performance, comparable to that reported for a conventional real impactor. The newly developed sampler can collect fine and coarse particles simultaneously, in combination with exposure testing with collected fine- and coarse-particulate matter samples, should help researchers to elucidate the mechanism by which airborne particles result in adverse health effect in detail.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2022

Background: The global shift toward greener societies demands new technologies and work operations in the waste-management sector. However, progressive industrial methods do not necessarily consider workers' health. This study characterized workers' exposure to bioaerosols and investigated the bioaerosols' potential to engage the immune system in vitro. Methods: Full shift personal aerosol sampling was conducted over three consecutive days. Dust load was analyzed by gravimetry, fungal and actinobacterial spores were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, and endotoxin by limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay. In vitro exposure of HEK cells to airborne dust samples was used to investigate the potential of inducing an inflammatory reaction. Results: The total dust exposure level exceeded the recommended occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 5.0 mg/m³ in 3 out of 15 samples. The inhalable endotoxin level exceeded the recommended exposure level by a 7-fold, whereas the fungal spore level exceeded the recommended exposure level by an 11-fold. Actinobacterial spores were identified in 8 out of 14 samples. In vitro experiments revealed significant TLR2 activation in 9 out of 14 samples vs. significant TLR4 activation in all samples. Conclusion: The present study showed that the dust samples contained potentially health-impairing endotoxin, fungi, and actinobacterial levels. Furthermore, the sampled dust contained microbial components capable of inducing TLR activation and thus have the potential to evoke an inflammatory response in exposed individuals.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.739-746
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• 2010

The purposes of this study are 1) to develop an advanced chamber system within ${\pm}10%$ of air velocity at the particulate matter (PM) collection area, 2) to research theoretical characteristics of PM10 and PM2.5 samplers, 3) to assess the performance characteristics of PM10 and PM2.5 samplers through chamber experiments. The total six one-hour experiments were conducted using the cornstarch with an mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) of $20\;{\mu}m$ and an geometric standard deviation of 2.0 at the two different air velocity conditions of 0.67 m/s and 2.15 m/s in the chamber. The aerosol samplers used in the present study are one APM PM10 and one PM2.5 samplers accordance with the US federal reference methods and specially designed three mini-volume aerosol samplers (two for PM10 and one for PM2.5). The overall results indicate that PM10 and PM2.5 mini-volume samplers need correction factors of 0.25 and 0.39 respectively when APM PM samplers considered as reference samplers and there is significant difference between two mini-volume aerosol samplers when a two-way analysis of variance is tested using the measured PM10 mass concentrations. The PM10 and PM2.5 samplers with the cutpoints and slopes (PM10: $10{\pm}0.5\;{\mu}m$ and $1.5{\pm}0.1$, PM2.5: $2.5{\pm}0.2\;{\mu}m$ and $1.3{\pm}0.03$) theoretically collect the ranges of 86~114% and 64~152% considering the cornstarch characteristics used in this research. Furthermore, the calculated mass concentrations of PM samplers are higher than the ideal mass concentrations when the airborne MMADs for the cornstarch used are smaller than the cutpoints of PM samplers and the PM samplers collected less PM in another case. The chamber experiment also showed that PM10 and PM2.5 samplers had the bigger collection ranges of 37~158% and 55~149% than the theocratical calculated mass concentration ranges and the relatively similar mass concentration ranges were measured at the air velocity of 2.15 m/s comparing with the 0.67 m/s.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.173-180
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• 2017

In this study, air sampling locations in the stack of the Advanced Fuel Science Building (AFSB) at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) were assessed according to the ANSI/HPS N13.1-1999 specification. The velocity profile, flow angle and $10{\mu}m$ aerosol particle profile at the cross-section as functions of stack height L and stack diameter D (L/D) were assessed according to the sampling location criteria using COMSOL. The criteria for the velocity profile were found to be met at 5 L/D or more for the height, and the criteria for the average flow angle were met at all locations through this assessment. The criteria for the particle profile were met at 5 L/D and 9 L/D. However, the particle profile at the cross-section of each sampling location was found to be non-uniform. In order to establish uniformity of the particle profile, a static mixer and a perimeter ring were modeled, after which the degrees of effectiveness of these components were compared. Modeling using the static mixer indicated that the sampling locations that met the criteria for the particle profile were 5-10 L/D. When modeling using the perimeter ring, the sampling locations that met the criteria for particle profile were 5 L/D and 7-10 L/D. The criteria for the velocity profile and the average flow angle were also met at the sampling locations that met the criteria for the particle profile. The methodologies used in this study can also be applied during assessments of air sampling locations when monitoring stacks at new nuclear facilities as well as existing nuclear facilities.