Critical aspects in occupational exposure assessment with different aerosol metrics in an industrial spray coating process

Franco Belosi; Antti Joonas Koivisto; Irini Furxhi; Jesús Lopez de Ipiña; Alessia Nicosia; Fabrizio Ravegnani; Simona Ortelli; Ilaria Zanoni; Anna Costa

doi:10.1016/j.impact.2023.100459

Critical aspects in occupational exposure assessment with different aerosol metrics in an industrial spray coating process

NanoImpact. 2023 Apr:30:100459. doi: 10.1016/j.impact.2023.100459. Epub 2023 Mar 21.

Authors

Franco Belosi¹, Antti Joonas Koivisto², Irini Furxhi³, Jesús Lopez de Ipiña⁴, Alessia Nicosia¹, Fabrizio Ravegnani¹, Simona Ortelli⁵, Ilaria Zanoni⁶, Anna Costa⁶

Affiliations

¹ CNR-ISAC, National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy.
² Air Pollution Management APM, Mattilanmäki 38, 33610 Tampere, Finland; Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), University of Helsinki, PL 64, FI-00014 UHEL, Helsinki, Finland; ARCHE Consulting, Liefkensstraat 35D, Wondelgem B-9032, Belgium.
³ Transgero Limited, Cullinagh, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, Limerick, Ireland; Department of Accounting and Finance, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland.
⁴ TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Parque Tecnológico de Alava, Leonardo Da Vinci 11, 01510 Miñano, Spain.
⁵ CNR-ISSMC (former ISTEC), National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Science, Technology and Sustainability for Ceramics, Via Granarolo 64, 48018 Faenza, Italy. Electronic address: simona.ortelli@issmc.cnr.it.
⁶ CNR-ISSMC (former ISTEC), National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Science, Technology and Sustainability for Ceramics, Via Granarolo 64, 48018 Faenza, Italy.

PMID: 36948454
DOI: 10.1016/j.impact.2023.100459

Abstract

Engineered Nanomaterials (ENMs) have several uses in various industrial fields and are embedded in a myriad of consumer products. However, there is continued concern over the potential adverse health effects and environmental impacts of ENMs due to their unique physico-chemical characteristics. Currently, there are no specific international regulations for various ENMs. There are also no Occupational Exposure Limits (OEL) regulated by the European Union (EU) for nanomaterials in the form of nano-objects, their aggregates or agglomerates (NOAA). For ENMs the question of which metric to be used (i.e., mass, surface area, number concentrations) to determine the exposure is still not resolved. The aim of this work is to assess the worker exposure by inhalation in an industrial spray coating process by using all three metrics mentioned above. Two target ENMs (N-doped TiO₂, TiO₂N and AgNPs capped with a quaternized hydroxyethyl-cellulose, AgHEC) generated for industrial-scale spraying processes were considered. Results showed that the averaged particle number concentration (10-100 nm) was below 2.7 10⁴ cm^-3 for both materials. The Lung Deposited Surface Area (LDSA) was in the range between 73 and 98 μm²cm^-3 and the particle mass concentration (obtained by means of ICP-EOS off-line analysis) resulted below 70 μg m^-3 and 0.4 μg m^-3 for TiO₂ and Ag, respectively. Although, the airborne particles concentration compared well with the NIOSH Recommended Exposure Level (REL) limits the contribution to the background, according to EN 17058 (Annex E) was significant (particularly in the particle number and PM1 mass concentrations). We successfully evaluated the worker exposure by means of the different airborne particles' metrics (number, surface and mass concentrations). We concluded that worker exposure assessment involving ENMs is a complex procedure with requires both real time and off-line measurements and a deep investigation of the background.

Keywords: Aerosol metrics; Engineered nanomaterial; Exposure assessment; Spray-coating.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aerosols / analysis
Air Pollutants, Occupational* / analysis
Occupational Exposure* / adverse effects
Particle Size

Substances

titanium dioxide
Air Pollutants, Occupational
Aerosols