Field evaluation of a novel personal cyclone sampler for collection of fungal spores.

Macher-JM; Chen-TH; Rao-CY

Proceedings of the Seventh International Aerosol Conference, September 10-15, 2006, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.. Biswas P, Chen DR, Hering S, eds. Mount Laurel, NJ: American Association for Aerosol Research, 2006 Sep; :512-513

20031880

Chen et a1. (2004) described a personal aerosol sampler based on cyclone principles that uses a 1.5-ml microcentrifuge tube for particle collection. These authors evaluated the collection efficiency for aerosol particles in the size range of fungal spores for different types of microcentrifuge tubes with and without a polyethylene glycol coating or water. They also compared sampler performance at two airflow rates (2 and 4 L min-1). The microcentrifuge-tube sampler was determined to have an aspiration efficiency of 100% in calm air for particles up to 16 microm. At 4 L min-1, the sampler collected nearly 100% of >3 microm particles and >90% ofpartic1es between 2.5 and 3 microm with a 50% cutoff diameter d(50) of 1.5 microm. The current evaluation includes (i) long-term field trials (collection time: 7-19 hours) at an outdoor location with abundant naturally generated airborne fungal spores during a period of peak release (March-May); and (ii) short- and long-term chamber tests (collection time: 10-40 min and 1.3-5.3 hours, respectively) in a sealed glove box with two types of laboratory-generated airborne fungal spores (Aspergillus versicolor and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis). Only preliminary results of the fie1d evaluation are reported here. The overall goal of the project was to evaluate the collection of a personal, cyclone, air sampler relative to widely used environmental samplers (i.e., a filter sampler, another cyclone samp1er, and two types of s1it impactors) for ana1ysis by advanced techniques, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunological assays.

Aerosol-sampling; Aerosols; Fungi; Microorganisms; Sampling-equipment; Samplers

20060901

Abstract

Biswas-P; Chen-DR; Hering-S

2006

9780978873509

Contract-212-2004-M-08643

HELD

Proceedings of the Seventh International Aerosol Conference, September 10-15, 2006, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.

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