Extracting dust from soil: Improved efficiency of a previously published process

A previously published procedure describing how to simply and cheaply extract a sufficient quantity of dust particles sized smaller than 10 mu m (PM(10)) from soil to be used in air quality analysis has been modified and improved. These modifications are described in detail and are significant because they will enable extraction of a greater quantity of the PM(10) fraction for a given soil sample, in less time and without the need for building specialised equipment. Less water is also used in the modified procedure, and thus a smaller risk of dissolution of metals of interest. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.