• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.163-171
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• 2022

Objectives: Fit performance may vary depending on the ambient aerosol number and ratio in respective test environment. Although several instrument can measure it, they differ with respect to the measurement principle and the range of ambient aerosols collected to calculate the fit factor. Methods: In this study, the fit performance between a condensation nuclei counter(CNC) and an optical particle counter(OPC) was compared according to ambient aerosol number concentration, and evaluated consistency. One type respirators(N95 masks) was worn by 50 participants PortaCount®(Pro+ 8038) and MT®(05U) were connected with one probe to one mask, and Fit Factors(FFs) were measured simultaneously. Results: The interclass correlation coefficient of the fit factor and ambient aerosol number, as measured by the two instrument, was 0.82 and 0.79, respectively, indicating a high consistency level. On the other hand there was a significant correlation between the successful test performance of the OPC instrument and the ambient aerosol number. Conclusions: The test was passed with the CNC and OPC instruments when the ambient aerosol number was 635-3,332 particles/cm³ and 368-1,976 particles/cm³, respectively. Thus, the ideal ambient aerosol number of particles differed between the two instrument.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 2008

The effect of light intensity on the ozone formation and the aerosol number concentration during the photochemical reactions of ambient air was investigated in an indoor smog chamber. The smog chamber consists of a housing, 64 blacklights, and a $2.5-m^3$ reaction bag made of Teflon film. The bag was filled with the unfiltered ambient air in Seoul from January 10 to March 18, 2002. In this work, the photolysis rate of $NO_2$, $k_1$ was used as an index of light intensity. Three levels of light intensity were controlled by changing the number of blacklights turned on among 64 blacklights: $0.29min^{-1}$ (50%), $0.44min^{-1}$ (75%), $0.57min^{-1}$ (100%). The ozone concentration increased rapidly within 10 minutes after irradiation irrespective of light intensity, thereafter it increased linearly during the irradiation. The ozone production rate seems to be dependent on both the light intensity and the quality of ambient air introduced into the reaction bag. The change in aerosol number concentration also depended on both the light intensity and the ambient air quality, especially aerosol size distribution. Based on the initial ambient aerosol size distributions, the photochemical potential for aerosol formation and growth is classified into two cases. One is the case showing aerosol formation and growth processes, and the other is the case showing no apparent change in particle size distribution.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.534-544
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• 2011

The secondary aerosol forming potential of ambient air was first measured with the Potential Aerosol Mass(PAM) chamber at Gosan supersite on Jeju island from October 22 to November 5, 2010. PAM chamber is a small flowthrough photo-oxidation chamber with extremely high OH and $O_3$ levels. The OH exposure in the PAM chamber was $(2{\pm}0.4){\times}10^{11}{\sim}(6{\pm}1.2){\times}10^{11}$ molecules $cm^{-3}$ s and was similar to 2 to 5 days of aging in the atmosphere. By periodically turning on and off UV lamps in the PAM chamber, ambient aerosol and newly formed aerosol (e.g. called as PAM aerosol) was alternately measured. Aerosol number and mass concentration in the range of 10~487 nm in diameter was measured by SMPS 3034. With UV lamps on, the nucleation mode particles smaller than 50 nm in diameters were formed. Their number concentration was greater than 105 $cm^{-3}$, leading to increase in aerosol mass by 0~8 ${\mu}gm^{-3}$. The variations of PAM and ambient aerosols were greatly dependent on characteristics of air masses such as precursor concentrations and degree of aging. This preliminary results suggests that PAM chamber is useful to assess the aerosol formation potential of air mass and its impact on the air quality. The further analysis of data with gaseous and particulate measurements will be done.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.20 no.E1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2004

Aerosol wall loss is an important factor affecting smog chamber experiments, especially with chambers made of Teflon film. In this work, the aerosol wall loss was investigated in 2.5 and $5.8-m^3$ cubic-shaped Teflon film chambers filled with ambient air. The natural change in the particle size distribution was measured using a scanning mobility particle sizer in a dark environment. The rate of aerosol wall loss was obtained from the deposition theory suggested by Crump and Seinfeld (1981). The measured rates of aero-sol wall loss were In a good agreement with the theoretical and experimental values given by McMurry and Rader (1985), implying that the electrostatic effect enhances particle deposition on the chamber wall. The significance of aerosol wall loss correction was demonstrated with the photochemical reaction experiments using the ambient air.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.151-160
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• 2012

Health effects caused by the ultrafine particles in ambient air are great concern to the public health, and the strict measuring and monitoring of the ambient aerosol are required. In this work, the characteristics of the aerosol size distribution in Pohang province are studied. Optical particle counters (Grimm APS 1108 and 1109) were used to measure the aerosol size distribution in the area. Locations near the national monitoring site located in the industrial and the residence area were selected for the measuring sites of this study, and the locations in border area between the industry and the residence were selected for the reference of the comparison. In the industry site, it is found that the concentration of aerosol particles near the size of 5 ${\mu}m$ appear characteristically and the fluctuations in concentration with respect to time are minimal. The mass concentration of the aerosol above 10 ${\mu}m$ in diameter in the industry area was found to fluctuate significantly. The mass portion of $PM_{10}$ and PM2.5 to TSP in the residence area were 83% and 51% respectively. In the industrial regional, it was found that the mass portion of PM10 and $PM_{2.5}$ to TSP were 76% and 35% respectively. In the boundary area the mass portion of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ to TSP were 78% and 54% respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.161-174
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• 2004

Aerosol formation and growth by water vapor reactions were investigated in a 2.5 -㎥ indoor smog chamber filled with the unfiltered ambient air. The relative humidity of test ambient air was elevated at 59～64% or 84～88% by adding water vapor. The aerosol number size distribution and the concentrations of $O_3$, NO, NO$_2$, and SO$_2$ were measured during the experiments. The $O_3$ and NO$_2$ gases were well reacted with the water vapor at high relative humidity of 84～88%, and the reaction rates of these gases seemed to be decreased at low relative humidity of 59～64%. The formation and condensational growth phenomena of ambient aerosols by water vapor reactions were observed in a Teflon bag, depending strongly on the initial particle size distribution. The water vapor reactions might be affected by the contents of oxidants produced by photochemical reactions under sunlight.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.129-138
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• 2013

The water uptake by fine aerosol in the atmosphere has been investigated at Gosan, Korea during ABC-EAREX 2005. The concentration of inorganic ion and carbon components, size distribution, and light scattering coefficients in normal and dry conditions were simultaneously measured for $PM_{2.5}$ by using a parallel integrated monitoring system. The result of this study shows that ambient fine particles collected at Gosan were dominated by water-soluble ionic species (35%) and carbonaceous materials (18%). In addition, it shows the large growth of aerosol in the droplet mode when RH is higher than 70%. Size distribution of the particulate surface area in a wider size range ($0.07-17{\mu}m$) shows that the elevation of RH make ambient aerosol grow to be the droplet mode one around $0.6{\mu}m$ or the coarse mode one, larger than $2.5{\mu}m$. Hygroscopic factor data calculated from the ratio of aerosol scattering coefficients at a given ambient RH and a reference RH (25%) show that water uptake began at the intermediate RH range, from 40% to 60%, with the average hygroscopic factor of 1.10 for 40% RH, 1.11 for 50% RH, and 1.17 for 60% RH, respectively. Finally, average chemical composition and the corresponding growth curves were analyzed in order to investigate the relationship between carbonaceous material fraction and hygroscopicity. As a result, the aerosol growth curve shows that inorganic salts such as sulphate and nitrate as well as carbonaceous materials including OC largely contribute to the aerosol water uptake.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.115-126
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• 2019

In this study, a serial methodology is presented for estimating the effective density of ambient sub-micron aerosol employing lab-made 1 stage low-pressure impactor of Hyun et al. (2015) and SMPS (Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer) together. The effective density from this methodology (Impactor+SMPS) was compared with another methodology (BAM+SMPS) for estimating the effective density employing BAM (Beta-Attenuation Monitor) and SMPS. As a result, the effective density obtained with impactor+SMPS ranged from $0.42g/cm^3$ to $2.36g/cm^3$, while the effective density obtained with BAM+SMPS ranged from $1.01g/cm^3$ to $1.72g/cm^3$. The difference between these results might be caused by the particle loss in the impactor.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.27-34
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• 2022

Atmospheric aerosols have become a major environmental concern because of their adverse effects on human health, air quality, and climate change. Over the last few decades, several mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques have been developed and applied in the field of atmospheric aerosol research. Particularly, real-time measurement of ambient aerosols using an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) has become one of the most powerful tools for aerosol chemistry. This review provides a brief description of AMS and its applications for understanding the physicochemical properties of atmospheric aerosols, as well as its sources and evolution processes.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.151-164
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• 2010

Inorganic ions and water are major components of ambient fine particles. Water content in fine particles is mainly determined by ambient meteorological conditions and the concentrations of hygroscopic species such as inorganic ions. Thus, to reduce fine particle mass concentration, it is important to accurately estimate the relationship between water content and the concentration of ions in fine particles. Water content in fine particles in Seoul are estimated by using a gas/particle equilibrium model to understand the characteristics of fine particle mass concentration. In addition, sensitivity of fine particle mass concentration to the changes of particulate ionic species (sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium) is estimated. It was found that water content in Seoul is mostly determined by the concentrations of the hygroscopic ionic species, especially, sulfate and ammonium, and ambient relative humidity.