High-volume air sampler

Total airborne particulates are determined using a high-volume air sampler equipped with either cellulose fiber or glass fiber filters. Samples taken from urban environments require approximately 1 h of sampling time, but samples from rural environments require substantially longer times. 

Collection efficiency is a measure of the amount of material collected by the sampler relative to the amount of material to which the sampler was exposed. Collection efficiencies for many types of samples can be obtained from literature references. If not available in the literature, collection efficiencies can be obtained by comparing the amount collected by the sampler with the amount collected by samplers with known collection efficiency (e.g., nominal 100% for isokinetic samplers). Alternatively, the collection efficiency can be determined by measuring the amount of material collected in a low-speed wind mnnel or spray chamber relative to the release of a known amount of material. Some samplers have collection efficiencies below 100% (e.g., wide collectors sampling small droplets), while others may exceed 100% if they sweep the air of more material than passes a given location based on sampling area alone (e.g., high-volume air samplers). 

Wesley and Wall (4 ) and Brown and coworkers (18) collected dust samples at five cotton gins with high volume air samplers at three locations in the gin. The dust was removed from the filters in the seime manner as the weave room dusts discussed above. The average ash content was 32.9%. X-ray fluorescence analyses showed that silicon was the most abundant element detected (7.69%), followed by potassium (1.82%), aluminum (1.46%), calcium (1.15%), magnesium (1.05%), phosphorous (0.52%), iron (0.45%), sulphur (0.33%) and chlorine (0.16%). The total dust was separated into a "respirable fraction" (28) by the sonic sifting procedure and analyzed as above. The ash content of the respirable fraction of gin dusts increased to 46.0%. Only the... 

In. samples were taken with a small spatula from a 10 cm x 10 cm area, while the 1-6 and 6-12 In. samples were taken using a 2 In. diameter soil core sampler. Air samples were taken at the downwind edge of each bed by running a high volume air sampler with a quartz fiber filter backed with 120 mL of XAD-4 resin for 2 hr. 

A method was developed and tested for collecting semi- and non-volatile brominated organic compounds from air using a glass fiber filter and a high-volume air sampler. Exposed filters were extracted with acetone and the extracts analyzed by either glc/ms/comp, glc/ecd or tic. Recoveries of selected compounds from the filter material were >87%. 

Hart, K. M., and J. F. Pankow, High-Volume Air Sampler for Particle and Gas Sampling. 2. Use of Backup Filters to Correct for the Adsorption of Gas-Phase Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons to the Front Filter, Em-iron. Sci. Technoi., 28, 655-661 (1994). 

Hart, K.M. and J.F. Pankow. 1994. High volume air sampler for particle and gas sampling. 2. Use of backup filters to correct for adsorption of gas-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to the front filter. Environ. Sci. Technol. 28 655-661. 

Description of the high-volume column air sampler (a) illustrates the assembled sampler and its shelter (b) shows the components of a typical high-volume air sampler. 

Figure 4. High volume air sampler modified for holding solid sampling media for adsorbing pesticide vapors (2 )...

Figure 6. Arrangement for sampling pesticide vapors at three heights above a treated surface via a manifold interface (B) between XAD-packed tubes (C) and high volume air sampler motor (A) (51)...

Lewis, R.G. and M.D. Jackson (1982). Modification and evaluation of a high-volume air sampler for pesticides and other semi volatile industrial organic chemicals. Anal. Chem., 54, 592-594. 

Air particulate samplers are usually classified as low-volume air samplers or high-volume air samplers. There are, in addition to these classifications, dust samplers that consist of a combination of a low-volume suction pump and a movable filter-paper system. Characteristics of these samplers are as follows ... 

High-volume air sampler A high-volume air sampler is an apparatus whose suction capacity is between 500 1/min and 2000 1/min. It is used for a sample period of I day. A filter paper of dimensions 203x253 mm (8x10 in) can be attached as a collecting device. 

JL-900 Snow White is a high volume air sampler. It is meant to be used when trying to find even the smallest amounts of radiation in the atmosphere. Air volume is calculated from the pressure difference over the calibrated flange, also in the carbon line, which is equipped with a valve. Vacuum is set to 100 mbars which lies in the middle of the pump s efficiency of 200 mbars and leaves lots of reserve power to hold the air volume quite stable even when the filter gets dirty. The filter is set in a cassette... 

Fig. 0.11. Map of the Taranaki area and major trial sites. The sites of high volume air samplers and the contours of activity are indicated.

Initially, a low volume system was installed at Skua Lake, but this was changed in 1991-1992 to match the high volume air samplers around the station. The data from Skua Lake indicated that the site had become affected by anthropic activities. Thus, it was decided to have a new reference site at Campo Icaro situated about 2000 m S from the main camp and 20 m asl. From the 1994-1995 a high volume air sampler of the same type as all the others was installed there. 

Sampling of airborne particles was carried out at the rooftop level of a 6-story building of the National Institute of Public Health surrounded with arterial roads in central Tokyo (30 m above the ground) between lO and 22 October, 2000. Airborne particles smaller than 10 pm in aerodynamic diameter were collected on quartz fiber filters with a high-volume air sampler with 10-pm cut-off stage for 24 h from 1224 m of the air. Three quarters of the filter samples spiked with 2-NFL internal standard were cut into small pieces and put into dichloromethane to extract SOF from the airborne particle. The extracted SOF solution was isolated by filtration and washed sequentially with 5% sodium hydroxide, 20% sulfuric acid solution, and purified water. After removal of water, the sample solution was concentrated by drying under nitrogen and was dissolved into 1 mL of acetonitrile for subsequent analysis. 

Airborne particulates were collected at a heavy traffic site in Kanazawa, Japan by a 123VL high-volume air sampler (Kimoto Electric Company Ltd., Osaka, Japan) with a 2500QAT-UP quartz fiber filter (25 X 20 cm, Pallflex Products, Putnam, CT, USA) for 24 hours at a flow rate of 1.3 mVmin. The filter was treated according to our previous paper. ... 

Lewis, R. G. and Jackson, M. D., "Modification and Evaluation of High Volume Air Sampler for Pesticides in Semivolatile Industrial Organic Chemicals," Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 54, No. 3, PP. 592-594,... 

The sample was collected using a high-volume air sampler, in which 13,000 m of air was sampled over a 7-day period. Air was aspirated through a glass fiber filter and two polyurethane foam plugs. Samples were subjected to Soxhlet extraction... 

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