Characterization of particle emission from laser printers

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 environitents. 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 tends of number, surface area and mass were found to be within the ranges from 339 x 10(8) part min(-1) to 1.61 x 10(12) part min(-1), 1.06 x 10(0) mm(2) min(-1) to 1.46 x 10(3) mm(2) min(-1) and 1.32 x 10(-1) mu g min(-1) to 1.23 x 10(2) mu g min(-1), respectively, while the median mode Value of the emitted particles was found equal to 34 run. In addition, the effect of laser printing emissions in tents of employees' expdsure in offices was evaluated on the basis of the emission rates, by calculating the daily surface area doses (as slim of alveolar and tradheobronchial deposition fraction) received assuming a typical printing scenario. In such typical printing conditions, a relatively low total surface area dose (2.7 mm(2)) 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. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.