Journal
JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE
Volume 9, Issue 8, Pages 502-516Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1080/15459624.2012.695216
Keywords
agricultural activities; biosolids application; farmers' exposure; particulate matter
Funding
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service Program [2008-03263]
- Div Of Biological Infrastructure
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1034791] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Reports profiling airborne particulate matter (PM) in farm fields, especially during a Class B biosolids land-injection process, are scarce. Thus, this study characterized PM in such a farm field located in northwest Ohio. For comparison, a control farm field with no biosolids application history was also monitored. During 11 days of varied agricultural activities, the concentrations of particle mass and number (count) and also metal content were monitored in the study field, and their interactions with environmental factors were examined. The monitoring was performed across the farm field at four heights of 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 m from the ground. The overall mean (SD) concentration (mu g/m(3)) of respirable suspended particulate matter (RPM) was 30.8 (23.1) with means ranging from 15.9 (3.80) during post-tilling Event 1, 19.9 (12.4) during biosolids application to 56.1 (11.7) during post-harvest (including baling) activity. The maximum concentration of RPM (mu g/m(3)) was 43 during biosolids application, 90 during post-harvest, and 183 during post-tilling Event 2 activities. Overall, 93.7% (8.98%) of the total suspended particulate matter (TPM) was respirable. The levels of RPM significantly (p<0.01) correlated with TPM and particle counts of ultrafine particles (UFP) and 0.3 mu m particle size. Ambient temperature showed no effect, whereas wind speed and relative humidity had an inverse effect on RPM concentration. Particle concentrations changed minimally during each set of monitoring across the field, except during major activities or sudden weather changes. For particles with sizes of 2, 5, and 10 mu m, the counts decreased with increasing height from the ground and were significantly (p < 0.05) higher at 0.5 m than at other heights. The levels of nine metals within particles monitored were well below current recommended occupational exposure criteria. These results suggest that injection of the biosolids into agricultural land provides significant protection against exposure to biosolids particles.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available