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Constantinos Sioutas,¹ Petros Koutrakis,¹ and Robert M. Burton²

¹Harvard University, School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115 USA;
²U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 USA

Abstract

This paper presents the development and evaluation of an ambient particle concentrator for conducting animal inhalation exposure studies. The system utilizes the principle of virtual impactors to concentrate ambient particles in the size range 0.1-2.5 µm (aerodynamic diameter ; d_p) by drawing them through a series of three virtual impactors. Each impactor contains the majority of ambient fine mass (d_p<2.5 µm aerodynamic diameter) in a bleed flow (minor flow) that is 20% of the total flow entering the virtual impactor. The virtual impactors have been characterized using indoor air samples as test aerosols. Fine mass and sulfate concentrations at the outlet of the concentrating system were compared to the ambient fine mass and sulfate levels, which were determined using Harvard-Marple impactors. In each of the stages, particle concentration was increased by a factor of approximately 3. Thus, an overall concentration factor of about 25-30 was achieved. The main goal of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of conducting animal exposures using the newly developed ambient fine particle concentrator. Key words: ambient particles, animal inhalation exposures, concentrator, virtual impactors. Environ Health Perspect 103:172-177 (1995)

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1995/103p172-177sioutas/abstract.html

Address correspondence to C. Sioutas, Harvard University, School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 USA.

The authors thank Steven Ferguson, Mike Wolfson, and Christine Donoghue of the Harvard School of Public Health for their invaluable technical assistance. This work was supported by the U.S. EPA through the cooperative agreement CR 816740 and by NIEHS Occupational and Environmental Health Center grant ES00002. This paper has been subjected to the agency's peer and administrative review and approved for publication as an EPA document. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. A patent application has been filed to the United States Patent Office (serial number 542/93) .

Received 18 July 1994 ; accepted 31 October 1994.