Technical Note: Performance of a Personal Electrostatic Precipitator Particle Sampler

Filter-based methodsused to measure aerosols with semi-volatile constituents are subject to biases from adsorption andvolatilization that may occur during sampling(McDowandHuntzicker 1990; Turpin and Huntzicker 1994; Volckens et al.1999; Tolocka et al. 2001). The development and evaluation ofsuitable methods for quantitative measurement of semivolatileorganic aerosols is of public health signi” cance because thisclass of chemicals can include polycyclic aromatic hydrocar-bons, pesticides, and many other known toxins(Harkov 1986;Finlayson-Pitts and Pitts 1999). Furthermore, the need existsfor personal exposure measurements, since microenvironmen-taloroutdoorsurrogateshavebeenshowntohavelimitedutility(Wallace 1996; Rodes et al. 1991). Previous laboratory and” eld studies have demonstrated that electrostatic precipitationmay be an effective means for sampling such aerosols(Leithet al. 1996; Volckens et al. 1999, 2000). However, samplesof semivolatile aerosols collected by electrostatic precipitators(ESPs)aresusceptibletoreactionsanddegradationduetoozonegenerated by the corona(Kaupp and Umlauf 1992).Although