Passive air sampling for gaseous mercury in workplace atmospheres and for personal inhalation exposure monitoring

Inhalation exposure to mercury continues to be a concern in a number of workplaces. Examples are facilities handling mercury-containing electronic waste or so-called “gold-shops” processing the amalgams from artisanal and small-scale gold mining operations. We are exploring the feasibility of using a passive air sampler recently developed for recording long term average mercury concentrations in the ambient atmosphere in the monitoring of personal mercury inhalation exposure and mercury concentrations in workplace atmospheres. This sampler is small, light, inexpensive, easy-to-operate, and requires no power. The intern will be performing experiments to evaluate sampler performance (i) with and without a wind shelter, (ii) with different diffusive barriers, and (iii) at different concentration levels. Specifically, she will be determining sampler precision, the extent of the influence of wind, and quantitative sampling rates for the different sampler configurations and exposure conditions. The sampler will be tested in workplaces with mercury inhalation concerns.

Faculty Supervisor:

Frank Wania

Student:

Partner:

Tekran

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Toronto

Program: