Characterization of particle emission from laser printers

Mauro Scungio; Tania Vitanza; Luca Stabile; Giorgio Buonanno; Lidia Morawska

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.030

Characterization of particle emission from laser printers

Sci Total Environ. 2017 May 15:586:623-630. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.030. Epub 2017 Feb 10.

Authors

Mauro Scungio¹, Tania Vitanza², Luca Stabile², Giorgio Buonanno³, Lidia Morawska⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, via G. di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino, FR, Italy. Electronic address: m.scungio@unicas.it.
² Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, via G. di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino, FR, Italy.
³ Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, via G. di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino, FR, Italy; Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia.
⁴ Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia.

PMID: 28196755
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.030

Abstract

Emission of particles from laser printers in office environments is claimed to have impact on human health due to likelihood of exposure to high particle concentrations in such indoor environments. In the present paper, particle emission characteristics of 110 laser printers from different manufacturers were analyzed, and estimations of their emission rates were made on the basis of measurements of total concentrations of particles emitted by the printers placed in a chamber, as well as particle size distributions. The emission rates in terms of number, surface area and mass were found to be within the ranges from 3.39×10⁸partmin^-1 to 1.61×10¹²partmin^-1, 1.06×10⁰mm²min^-1 to 1.46×10³mm²min^-1 and 1.32×10^-1μgmin^-1 to 1.23×10²μgmin^-1, respectively, while the median mode value of the emitted particles was found equal to 34nm. In addition, the effect of laser printing emissions in terms of employees' exposure in offices was evaluated on the basis of the emission rates, by calculating the daily surface area doses (as sum of alveolar and tracheobronchial deposition fraction) received assuming a typical printing scenario. In such typical printing conditions, a relatively low total surface area dose (2.7mm²) was estimated for office employees with respect to other indoor microenvironments including both workplaces and homes. Nonetheless, for severe exposure conditions, characterized by operating parameters falling beyond the typical values (i.e. smaller office, lower ventilation, printer located on the desk, closer to the person, higher printing frequency etc.), significantly higher doses are expected.

Keywords: Daily dose; Emission rates; FMPS; Laser printers; Particle exposure; Ultrafine particles.