Development and laboratory performance evaluation of a personal multipollutant sampler for simultaneous measurements of particulate and gaseous pollutants

A personal multipollutant sampler has been developed. This sampler can be u sed for measuring exposures to particulate matter and criteria gases. The s ystem uses a single personal sampling pump that operates at a flow rate of 5.2 l/min. The basic unit consists of two impaction-based samplers for PM2. 5 and PM10 attached to a single elutriator. Two mini PM2.5 samplers are als o attached to the elutriator for organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) , sulfate, and nitrate measurements. For the collection of nitrate and sulf ate, the minisampler includes a miniaturized honeycomb glass denuder that i s placed upstream of the filter to remove nitric acid and sulfur dioxide an d to minimize artifacts. Two passive samplers can also be attached to the e lutriator for measurements of gaseous copollutants such as O-3, SO2, and NO 2. The performance of the multipollutant sampler was examined through a series of laboratory chamber tests. The results showed a good agreement between t he multipollutant sampler and the reference methods. The overall sampler pe rformance demonstrates its suitability for personal exposure assessment stu dies.