Quartz in coal dust deposited on internal surface of respirable size selective samplers

The objective of the present study is to quantify quartz mass in coal dust deposited on the internal cassette surface of respirable size-selective samplers. Coal dust was collected with four different respirable size-selective samplers (10 mm Dorr-Oliver nylon [Sensidyne, St. Petersburg, Fla.], SKC Aluminum [SKC Inc., Eighty Four, Pa.], BGI4L [BGI USA Inc., Waltham, Mass.], and GK2.69 cyclones [BGI USA Inc.]) with two different cassette types (polystyrene and static-dissipative polypropylene cassettes). The coal dust was aerosolized in a calm air chamber by using a fluidized bed aerosol generator without neutralization under the assumption that the procedure is similar to field sampling conditions. The mass of coal dust was measured gravimetrically and quartz mass was determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Manual of Analytical Methods, Method 7603. The mass fractions of the total quartz sample on the internal cassette surface are significantly different between polystyrene and static-dissipative cassettes for all cyclones (p < 0.05). No consistent relationship between quartz mass on cassette internal surface and coal dust filter mass was observed. The BGI4L cyclone showed a higher (but not significantly) and the GK2.69 cyclone showed a significantly lower (p < 0.05) internal surface deposit quartz mass fraction for polystyrene cassettes compared to other cyclones. This study confirms previous observations that the interior surface deposits in polystyrene cassettes attached to cyclone pre-selectors can be a substantial part of the sample, and therefore need to be included in any analysis for accurate exposure assessment. On the other hand, the research presented here supports the position that the internal surface deposits in static-dissipative cassettes used with size-selective cyclones are negligible and that it is only necessary to analyze the filter catch.