Pulmonary exposure to micro- and nanoscaled particles has been widely linked to adverse health effects and high concentrations of respirable particles are expected to occur within and around many industrial settings. In this study, a field-measurement campaign was performed at an industrial manufacturer, during the production of paints. Spatial and personal measurements were conducted and results were used to estimate the mass flows in the facility and the airborne particle release to the outdoor environment. Airborne particle number concentration (1 × 103–1.0 × 104 cm−3), respirable mass (0.06–0.6 mg m−3), and PM10 (0.3–6.5 mg m−3) were measured during pouring activities. In overall; emissions from pouring activities were found to be dominated by coarser particles >300 nm. Even though the raw materials were not identified as nanomaterials by the manufacturers, handling of TiO2 and clays resulted in release of nanometric particles to both workplace air and outdoor environment, which was confirmed by TEM analysis of indoor and stack emission samples. During the measurement period, none of the existing exposure limits in force were exceeded. Particle release to the outdoor environment varied from 6 to 20 g ton−1 at concentrations between 0.6 and 9.7 mg m−3 of total suspended dust depending on the powder. The estimated release of TiO2 to outdoors was 0.9 kg per year. Particle release to the environment is not expected to cause any major impact due to atmospheric dilution

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An innovative and simple method based on dilution, named as the dilution chamber (DC), allowing the measurement of solid and condensable fractions of particulate matter emitted by residential wood combustion appliances has been developed, and its performances have been evaluated. The DC method was then tested by five European institutes (Ineris, ISSI/ENEA, DTI, and RISE) on advanced residential wood log/pellet stoves, under nominal output and low output combustion conditions and using different fuel types. The aim of the study was to evaluate the capability of the DC method to collect the condensable fraction. The DC method was compared with another manual method used to collect the solid and condensable fractions at the same time, the dilution tunnel (DT), on four sampling platforms. A third method, a combining heated filter and impinger filled in with isopropanol collection (SPC-IPA), was also used by Ineris only for comparison with the DC method. PM measurements based on the DC method globally showed a linear correlation with PM measurements based on DT (R 2 ranged between 0.81 and 0.99, p < 0.05) specifically for the residential wood stoves under low output conditions when the condensable fraction contributes the most. An analysis and quantification of PAHs related to the total mass of PM of samples taken by the DC method and performed by ENEA/ISSI showed that it produces a condensation effect of semivolatile species comparable or even greater than the DT method. PM emission factors calculated from PM measurements based on the DC method were (i) about 2- to 20-fold higher for the residential wood stoves (EF ranged between 201 to 2420 g GJ–1) compared to those obtained for the residential pellet stoves (EF ranged between 108 to 556 g GJ–1) and (ii) of the same magnitude of PM emission factors from the literature or the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook.