Kylafis, GF, Tomlin, AS orcid.org/0000-0001-6621-9492, Sleigh, PA orcid.org/0000-0001-9218-5660 et al. (1 more author) (2019) Evolution of particle interactions between accidentally released aerosol particles generated from powdered engineered nanomaterials into a simulated workplace atmosphere. Journal of Aerosol Science, 129. pp. 98-115. ISSN 0021-8502
Abstract
The evaluation of aerosol processes which alter the size distribution of accidentally released nanomaterial particles in an indoor environment can provide size resolved exposure estimations, and subsequently contribute to a more comprehensive risk analysis on engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). In this work processed suspensions of TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanopowders were introduced into the reservoir of a nebuliser, and injected continuously as nano-aerosols into a room-size dispersion facility for a fixed release time. Following injection, the concentration of the dispersed aerosols was allowed to naturally decay for a prolonged period. Airborne particle number concentration (PNC) and particle size distributions (PSD) were continuously measured at a point within the breathing zone near to the source, while deposited particles were collected for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. A log10-normal fitting program was used to determine the evolution of the modal groups present within the measured PSDs. A modelling approach that considered the experimentally determined particle decay rate as a sum of the pair to pair coagulation and deposition rates was employed to estimate the relative importance of size-resolved deposition compared to coagulation. Results indicated that the variation of PNC with time was accurately modelled, providing size-dependent insights into the contribution of the two particle removal mechanisms to the change of PNC over time. The deposition patterns obtained from the TEM images qualitatively supported the model results. Since a limited set of input parameters were used, we concluded that the proposed model could be an effective tool for a reasonable quantification of worker's exposure to aerosols originating from the accidental release of diffuse ENM in real workplaces.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Journal of Aerosol Science. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Engineered nanomaterials; Exposure chamber; Air quality; Aerosol dynamic model |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemical & Process Engineering (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EU - European Union 263215 EU - European Union 263215 EU - European Union 263215 EU - European Union 263215 EU - European Union 263215 EU - European Union 263215 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 Jan 2019 15:45 |
Last Modified: | 26 Dec 2020 01:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2018.12.008 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:140547 |