Particulate matter monitoring
As the impact of human activities on the environment intensifies, the group of “invisible killers” of particulate matter has gradually become large, the composition has become complex, and the “lethality” has also gradually increased. Whether it is the common grey sky, or haze weather from time to time, these are in fact a large number of very fine dry dust particles and other floating in the air, so that visibility is reduced in the air generally turbid phenomenon, in essence, it is the ubiquitous particulate pollutants caused. This article mainly introduces the hazards of particulate matter and Particulate matter monitoring.
Introduction to Particulate Matter
Particulate matter (abbreviated as “PM”) is a mixture of suspended solid particles and small liquid droplets with a particle size of not less than 100 nanometres particles with a particle size ranging from 0.1 to 10 microns, the smaller the particles, the deeper they will be able to pass through our respiratory tract and enter the bloodstream, posing a greater risk to our health. Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is a generic term for a variety of solid and liquid particulate matter present in the atmosphere. Commonly, there are total suspended particulate matter (TSP), i.e., particulate matter with a particle size of less than 100 microns; respirable particulate matter (PM10), i.e., particulate matter with a particle size of less than or equal to 10 microns; and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), i.e., particulate matter with a particle size of less than or equal to 2.5 microns.
PM includes a wide variety of particles with varying characteristics (i.e., shape, optical properties, size, and composition), but is most commonly divided into subcategories based on particle size. The different categories of particulate matter are usually reported under the common nomenclature “PMx”, where “x” refers to the largest particle diameter in a mixture of suspended particles or “aerosols”.
Hazards of Particulate Matter
With the rapid development of China’s economy and the accelerated process of urbanisation, the increasingly serious air pollution has had a huge impact on human health and life. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports suspended particulate matter as a class 1 carcinogen and the greatest environmental risk to human health, with about 1/9 of all deaths occurring annually.PM 2.5 is a particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 μm in the ambient air, which enters the human body’s alveoli and bloodstream through respiration, thereby causing a variety of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, it is important to propose effective and timely preventive and countermeasure measures through accurate monitoring of particulate matter.
The concentration level of particulate matter is affected by various factors, such as region, season, local environment, etc. In cities with high wind and sand, particulate matter of larger size accounts for a larger proportion of TSP. The residence time in the air and the transmission distance of particles with different particle sizes are very different, the larger the particle size, the shorter the residence time in the air and the closer the transmission distance.Fosensor offers the Particulate matter sensor FS00201, a digital general-purpose particulate matter concentration sensor based on the principle of laser scattering, which can continuously collect and It continuously collects and calculates the number of suspended particles of different sizes in the air per unit volume, i.e. the concentration distribution of particles, which is then converted into mass concentration and outputted in the form of a general-purpose digital interface. The sensor can be embedded in a variety of airborne particulate matter concentration related instruments or environmental improvement equipment to provide timely and accurate concentration data.
