Study of Particle Resuspension from Dusty Surfaces Using a Centrifugal Method

Abstract

Particle resuspension has been recognized as a secondary source of indoor air pollution by many field studies. However, some laboratory studies showed that the air velocities or force fields required to resuspend aerosol particles are very high that rarely occurred in indoor environments. In fact, the surfaces used in these studies were treated to ensure cleanliness, but in reality, dusty surfaces are ubiquitous in our daily life. This work aims to investigate the effect of dust on a surface on resuspension of a coarse particle (polyethylene) by a centrifugal method. Dusty surfaces with different loadings were made by gravitational settling of Arizona test dust on a clean poly(methyl methacrylate) substrate inside a deposition chamber. The resuspension of dust particles was first investigated, and it was found that dust particles were resuspended by two stages with different rates of resuspension. For the resuspension of the particles on the dusty surface, the remaining fraction of the polyethylene particles decreased with increasing force field and dust loading. Dust could greatly reduce the adhesion of the particles from one to two orders of magnitude depending on loadings. This gives an explanation to the discrepancy between the field and the laboratory studies.