AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
Application of Novel Sensors for Assessing Indoor Air Pollution
JENNIE COX, Tiina Reponen, Sergey A. Grinshpun, Seung-Hyun Cho, University of Cincinnati
Abstract Number: 181 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract This study employs two novel sensors: RTI’s Micro Personal Exposure Monitor (MicroPEM) and a real-time black carbon sensor (MicroAeth). The MicroPEM provides PM2.5 data representing both the integrated exposure (from filter samples) and the patterns of exposure (real-time measured). To obtain accurate real-time data, the data obtained by sensors should be corrected utilizing the filter sampling results. The objective of this study was to determine the correction factors for the MicroPEM and MicroAeth to be used for analysis of indoor aerosols in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
In conjunction with an ongoing study funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the devices were collocated in 45 indoor sampling events for 2 days in an asthmatic child’s bedroom. Preliminary PM2.5 results obtained with 15 samples ranged from 2.4 to 43.5 µg/m3 with an average of 16.5 µg/m3 as determined by real-time measurements and from 1.4 to 46.8 µg/m3 with an average of 17.4 µg/m3 as determined by the filter-based measurements. The black carbon values from the optical filter analysis ranged from 0.0 to 4.4 µg/m3 with an average of 0.9 µg/m3. The 48-hour average values from the MicroAeth black carbon sensor ranged from 0.1 to 1.3 µg/m3 with an average of 0.5 µg/m3. The average correction factors were found to be 1.5 for the MicroPEM and 2.1 for the MicroAeth. Following analysis of the additional 30 samples, we will assess the effect of home characteristics on the correction factors. This study is expected to ensure to field researchers and industrial hygienists that these real-time exposure monitors are capable of accurately detecting PM2.5 and black carbon, which creates the foundation for the further development of user-friendly, field-compatible aerosol instruments to be deployed in indoor air quality monitoring.