Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene
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J Occup Environ Hyg · Jan 2009
Efficiency of sampling and analysis of asbestos fibers on filter media: implications for exposure assessment.
To measure airborne asbestos and other fibers, an air sample must represent the actual number and size of fibers. Typically, mixed cellulose ester (MCE, 0.45 or 0.8 microm pore size) and, to a much lesser extent, capillary-pore polycarbonate (PC, 0.4 microm pore size) membrane filters are used to collect airborne asbestos for count measurement and fiber size analysis. In this research study, chrysotile asbestos (fibers both shorter and longer than 5 microm) were generated in an aerosol chamber and sampled by 25 mm diameter MCE filter media to compare the fiber retention efficiency of 0.45 microm pore size filters vs. 0.8 microm pore size filter media. ⋯ Exposure monitoring for these models should consider only the 0.45 microm pore size MCE filters as recommended by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) protocol and other methods.