AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Using a Quartz Crystal Microbalance to Measure the Mass Concentration of Combustion Particle Suspensions
KAMALJEET KAUR, Isabel C. Jaramillo, Hamid Ghandehari, Chris Reilly, Robert Paine, Kerry Kelly, University of Utah
Abstract Number: 120 Working Group: From Aerosol Dosimetry and Toxicology to Health
Abstract The majority of in vitro and in vivo instillation studies require generating combustion particle suspensions prior to exposure, and the mass concentration of these suspensions is critical to determining the delivered dose. However, the hydrophobic nature of combustion particles poses difficulties in getting a well-suspended mixture in DI water and an accurate estimate of delivered dose. This study explored the applicability of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) in estimating the mass concentration of combustion particle suspensions. It compared the QCM mass concentration to that estimated by placing a known mass of combustion particles in DI water. Standard reference diesel particles and flame-generated particles were used for the method development and calibration of QCM. The effect of suspension drop size on QCM measurements was also evaluated. For small drop volumes (0.5 μL) and constant temperatures, the QCM provides accurate and precise estimates of mass concentration for reference diesel PM (± 0.7%) and flame-generated combustion particles (± 7%). The application of QCM can be further extended to estimate the total mass of dissolved organic species and particle mass lost to the walls of vials.