High-sensitivity cassette for reducing limit of detection for diesel particulate matter sampling

NIOSH researchers designed a high-sensitivity (HS) cassette to improve the limit of detection of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH) method 5040 and the Airtec near real-time diesel particulate matter (DPM) monitor. This was achieved by reducing the size of the diesel particulate matter deposition spot from 8.0 cm² (NIOSH method 5040 mining samples) and 7.6 cm² (Airtec samples) to 0.5 cm². When compared with the standard cassette, the new high-sensitivity cassette improves the limit of detection of NIOSH method 5040 by approximately five times, and the differences between the elemental carbon results from the HS cassette and the standard three-piece cassette were within statistical error. The limit of detection for Airtec measurements improved by approximately 15 times, and the elemental carbon results with the HS cassette between the Airtec and NIOSH method 5040 were within statistical agreement. When used in the Airtec monitor, the high-sensitivity cassette showed promise for measuring short-duration spot checks of ambient concentrations but was limited when performing some long-term sampling due to the resultant loss of dynamic range. Only up to 7 μg of elemental carbon was collected onto the HS cassette before the increase in pump backpressure caused the flow fluctuations to exceed targeted values by unacceptable levels. The HS cassette shows promise for effective engineering evaluations of control technologies and strategies and near real-time diesel particulate matter measurements for a variety of occupations.