AAAR 35th Annual Conference October 17 - October 21, 2016 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Size-Selective Traceable Aerosol Particles to Assess Aerosol Transport in Field Tests
CYNTHIA J. KAESER, George R. Farquar, Matthias Frank, A. Daniel Jones, Elizabeth K. Wheeler, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Abstract Number: 687 Working Group: Aerosol Exposure
Abstract In the event of an unplanned release of hazardous aerosols, health officials must know how quickly and far from the source the aerosol could spread in order to adequately warn the public. These unwanted aerosols may be composed of a range of particle sizes and their transport after release will depend on the sizes present. Real-life environments that are at high risk for such an event are often complicated by complex air patterns and the movement of people. To provide accurate information for emergency plans, field tests can be performed in these high-risk locations using harmless, traceable aerosols of multiple sizes.
DNA Tagged Reagents for Aerosol eXperiments (DNATrax) has been shown to be a safe and effective material for tracking aerosol transport in real-life locations (Harding, 2016). Safe for human exposure with single-digit particle limits of detection, DNATrax particles are within the inhalable range (aerodynamic diameter of 1-10 micro-meter). However, the transport of particles can vary extensively even within this size range. It is then desirable to have particles of differing, non-overlapping size distributions, each labeled with a distinct DNA tag. These would be released simultaneously with the DNA tag used to differentiate the particles of each size from each other at the end of the experiment. To accomplish this, production protocols for DNATrax were optimized to provide the distinct size distributions desired. This presentation will outline these production alterations and highlight additional data acquired during the material preparation for a field test in a major U.S. city.
Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL IM release number LLNL-ABS-696895.
Harding, R.N., et al. (2016) Unique DNA-Barcoded Aerosol Test Particles for Studying Aerosol Transport, Aerosol Science and Technology, 50, 429-435.