title: On-line monitoring of airborne bioaerosols released from a composting/green waste site.
abstract: This study is the first to employ the on-line WIBS-4 (Wideband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor) technique for the monitoring of bioaerosol emissions and non-fluorescing "dust" released from a composting/green waste site. The purpose of the research was to provide a "proof of principle" for using WIBS to monitor such a location continually over days and nights in order to construct comparative "bioaerosol site profiles". The real-time data obtained was then used to assess variations of the bioaerosol counts as a function of size, "shape", site location, working activity levels, time of day, relative humidity, wind speeds and wind directions. Three short campaigns were undertaken, one classified as a "light" workload period, another as a "heavy" workload period and finally a weekend when the site was closed. One main bioaerosol size regime was found to predominate: 0.5-3μm with morphologies ranging from elongated to ellipsoidal/spherical. The real-time number-concentration data provides a long-term "video" record of the site and were consistent with the Andersen sampling protocol performed that provides only a single "snapshot" for bioaerosol release. The number-concentration of fluorescent particles as a proportion of total particle counts amounted, on average, to ∼1% for the "light" workday period, ∼7% for the "heavy" workday period and ∼18% for the weekend. The bioaerosol release profiles at the weekend were considerably different from those monitored during the working weekdays.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. Electronic address: doc@umail.ucc.ie.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Shane M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. Electronic address: j.sodeau@ucc.ie.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sodeau
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D007494:Ireland; D009862:Online Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D018505:Waste Management
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants
keywords: Bioaerosols; Composting; Fluorescence; Real-time Particle Counting