Industrial Hygiene Evaluation Methods

Particulate Matters
Bibhuti Bhusan Mandal, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
PARTICULATE MATTER

In the field of industrial hygiene, particulate matter (PM) is traditionally defined as

small (<100 µm φ) pieces of solid materials, liquid droplets, or microbiological

organisms.

Particles smaller than about 0.001 μm start to act like gases, and thus are not treated as

particulate matter.

Particulate is often used in lieu of the full term “particulate matter” (PM).
PARTICULATE MATTER

Particulate matter is regarded as a hazard when suspended in air, forming an aerosol,

which can then be inhaled.
Only particles less than approx. 100 µm φ have the potential to remain suspended in
the air for any length of time to form a hazardous aerosol.
Primary route of exposure for most hazardous particulate matter is inhalation, with
toxicity occurring subsequent to removal of the particulate matter from the aerosol by
deposition in the lungs.
Substantial exposure to particulate matter can result in a wide variety of biological
responses ranging from acute to chronic and mild to life-threatening.
PARTICULATE MATTER

Some types of PM may be hazardous by ingestion or skin contact.

Sir Percival Pott (1775) identified cancer caused by skin contact with soot* among
chimney sweeps

Pb particles that have settled out of the air onto eating surfaces can be absorbed
through the gastrointestinal tract to cause systemic poisoning.

*A deep black powdery or flaky substance consisting largely of amorphous carbon,

produced by the incomplete burning of organic matter.
Particle Deposition Mechanisms
When a particle is inhaled but is subsequently exhaled without deposition in the
respiratory tract, it will have no toxic effect.
If it is deposited in the lung, where it is deposited may determine if it will contribute
to an illness.
The removal of a particle from a moving aerosol is called particle deposition.
There are five primary mechanisms of particle deposition, and they are all applicable
to filters, lungs, sampling media, or any other surfaces that are exposed to a moving
aerosol*.

*An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets, in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic.
Examples of natural aerosols are fog, dust, forest exudates and geyser steam. Examples of anthropogenic aerosols are haze, particulate air
pollutants and smoke.
Q. What is an aerosol ? Give examples of natural and anthropogenic aerosols.
Particle Deposition Mechanisms

Inertial impaction — As a particle moves within an aerosol, it gains momentum that

is proportional to its mass. The removal of a particle from a moving aerosol is called
particle deposition.

While the gas responds very readily to abrupt changes in direction, the particle tends
to resist this change in direction and deviate from the air stream. This may cause the
particle to impact on the surface, stick there, and be removed from the aerosol.

Impaction is directly proportional to the density of the particle, the square of its
diameter, and the velocity of the moving aerosol. It is most effective for large and
dense particles in high velocity air.

It is a common principle used in the collection of industrial hygiene PM samples.

Particle Deposition Mechanisms

Interception—Particles not deposited by inertial impaction may be deposited by

interception.

In this case, the particle follows the air stream fairly well (because it is small, of low

density, or in a more slowly moving air stream), but still contacts the surface of the

filter or lung. It sticks, and has effectively been removed from the aerosol.

Interception is most effective for mid-sized particles. A special case of interception,

sieving, is an important deposition mechanism for very large airborne particles.

Particle Deposition Mechanisms

Sedimentation (Settling) —All particles are acted upon by gravity and tend to move
toward the center of the earth. If the particle settles onto a surface, it may stick and be
removed from the aerosol.
In a vacuum, the particle would accelerate continuously until it reached the surface,
independent of its mass or shape.
In the real world, particle movement is resisted by aerodynamic drag created by the
particle moving downward through the gaseous phase, and convection upward within
the gaseous phase. In a still environment, where drag is the primary force resisting
sedimentation, the terminal rate of settling (V t) for most particles can be estimated by
Equation *, which combines Newton’s Second Law of gravitational acceleration with
Stokes’ Law pertaining to drag forces of particles moving in a viscous medium.
Particle Deposition Mechanisms

Sedimentation (Settling) —When

the increasing particle velocity
creates a drag equal and opposite
to the force imposed by gravity,
the particle attains its terminal
settling
velocity.
The effectiveness of sedimentation
in a still aerosol is proportional to
the particle’s mass, and large
particles settle out much faster
than small particles.
Particle Deposition Mechanisms
Particle Deposition Mechanisms

Electrostatic attraction—Charged collection surfaces will tend to attract and hold

oppositely charged particles. Most airborne particles carry some net charge, and can be
effectively removed by electro-attractive forces if presented with a surface with the
opposite net charge. While not known as a major mechanism of deposition in the
respiratory tract, some air filters are designed to hold sustained electrostatic charges,
and this can greatly increase the efficiency at which they remove particles from
aerosols. Also, some industrial hygiene sampling methods still use electrostatic
attraction to collect particles, and unintended electrostatic effects hamper other
sampling methods.
Particle Deposition Mechanisms

Diffusion (Brownian movement) -Very small particles do not see the gas in which they
are suspended as a continuum.

Instead, they react to individual atoms of the gas or uneven impact by groups of air
molecules over time. As a result the particles wander around in a seemingly random
path, an effect termed Brownian motion (or movement).

Many people have seen this happen to small bacteria in liquid suspension through a
microscope. As the particles flow with the air, they tend to wander from the airflow lines,
and may bump into a collection surface and be removed from the aerosol.

The effectiveness of diffusion as a deposition mechanism is indirectly related to the

square of the particle diameter and to the velocity of the aerosol.
Particle Deposition Mechanisms

Summarily, impaction becomes of increasing importance as both particle size and air

flow rate goes up, gravitational settling predominates for larger particles at low flow

rates, and diffusion is the only active mechanism for particles less than 0.1 μm,

regardless of the flow rate.

Particle Deposition Mechanisms