Monthly Archives: July 2011

Air Filter and Stove Exchange Impacts on Indoor Air Quality and Health

Click Here for a study on Wood Stove health impacts

Webinar Attended – 28 July 2011 Smoke Particulate

The webinar was excellent.  Over 400 people listening to a lecture by a professor and following a power point presentation.  All from the comfort of your own home.

Like any seminar or lecture you have to concentrate and stay awake, but the availability of snacks from your own fridge always helps 🙂

Information about the webinar is available here, and additional information on the topic of smoke particulate matter is shown here.

Certainly a great way to be educated on topics that are not lectured on regularly.

Suspended Particulate Matter Definition – SPM and RSPM

There is much confusion about how to define PM10 particulate, but if articles indicate the definitions they used then the information can be compared with information from other studies. A concern is that the dust measurement equipment for PM10 particulate matter might not be designed to meet the same defined standard as used in the articles which could lead to some discrepancies.

Definitions of PM10 and respirable dust vary from

  • Particulate Matter with diameters less than 10 micron.  Not one particle collected may be above 10 micron, regardless of shape and density.
  • Particulate Matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 micron.  This takes density and shape into account.
  • Particulate Matter with a d50 aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 micron.  This takes density, shape and statistical averaging into account.
  • Particulate Matter with a d50 aerodynamic diameter of less than 7 micron (Mining in South Africa).  This is just a lower cut off used in the South African Mining Sector of South Africa when determining respirable dust levels on workers working on the mines.

Similar confusion exists for the PM2.5 particulate definitions and the equipment used to determine these low particle sizes need to be well maintained and operated by experienced people to prevent contamination of the samples by particulate larger than the defined size.

The fact that respirable suspended particulate matter is more dangerous to health than larger particulate up to 100 micron is well established. It is important to remember though that the ratio of RSPM to SPM will be specific to an area and the measurement of the one should be able to infer the other if the ratio has been experimentally determined, (excluding air pollution modelling).

“RSPMs are more dangerous to health because they are much smaller than Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), an umbrella term for all such substances with deleterious consequences, that are less than 100 micrometers in diameter.” See this link for the full article

At some stage the definition should be standardised so that apples can be compared to apples.

DustWatch particulate matter equipment measures SPM (suspended particulate matter), and is designed to have a cut-off at 100 micron, so that the maximum particle size collected is as close to 100 micron as possible.  The d50 of the samples is between 35 and 45 micron depending on the sampling location.  This is not an aerodynamic diameter as the size is determined using a Malvern particle size analysis.  So the d50 is the size of particle without taking density and shape into account.

Chris Loans

Air Quality in your Home

Ventilation is the easiest way to prevent the accumulation of dust and other pollutants in an enclosed area.

The article here

and these videos are a great introduction to this topic

Placement of the Fallout Dust Monitoring units.

Paragraph regarding to the placement of the Fallout Dust Monitoring Units.

The units are required to be at the boundary of your property so that the action levels can be applied to the levels leaving your property. This is the first consideration. Second would be the specific location of the units, so that they are not with 20 metres of any structure higher then 1m, or near to any local source of pollution like a dirt road, or chimneys, etc. It is also important to ensure that the units are not placed near trees or ventilation fan intakes or anything else that can impact on the airflow patterns around the unit. Accessibility, security and vandalism are other major considerations that need to be taken into account.

Please contact us for more information.

Dust Storms: PDF Article

Dust Storms: One of Arizona’s most Underrated Weather
Hazards

Jeff Davis
Senior Forecaster, NWS Tucson AZ

Just for Fun – Dust Particles – White Background

Just for Fun – White Background

Dust Particles 4 (multiply) //FREE FOOTAGE\\ from VFX FOOTAGE on Vimeo.

Webinar: Particulate Matter (Dust) Health Effects from Wood Smoke

Webinar: PM Health Effects from Wood Smoke, July 28, 21:00-22:00 South African Time.

Click Here to View the Webinar Information and to register – Webinar: Particulate Matter (Dust) Health Effects from Wood Smoke

Just for Fun – Floating Dust Particles

Just for Fun – Floating Dust Particles

Dust Particles 5 //FREE FOOTAGE\\ from VFX FOOTAGE on Vimeo.

Wind fences for industrial, recreational, and agricultural wind, rain, snow, and dust control.

An Example of an extreme solution to Environmental Dust