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Lab Report 01

This lab report discusses measuring total suspended particulate matter (TSP) in ambient air. TSP is measured using a high-volume air sampler, which draws a large volume of air through a pre-weighed filter over 24 hours. The mass gain of the filter from particles collected is used to determine the TSP concentration in the air sample by dividing the mass by the volume of air. The student learned how to operate the high-volume air sampler to collect a TSP sample and determine the TSP concentration through filter weighing.

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Nouma Saleha
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35 views

Lab Report 01

This lab report discusses measuring total suspended particulate matter (TSP) in ambient air. TSP is measured using a high-volume air sampler, which draws a large volume of air through a pre-weighed filter over 24 hours. The mass gain of the filter from particles collected is used to determine the TSP concentration in the air sample by dividing the mass by the volume of air. The student learned how to operate the high-volume air sampler to collect a TSP sample and determine the TSP concentration through filter weighing.

Uploaded by

Nouma Saleha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lab Report 1 ANPC

Nouma Saleha
Reg No : 299808
Submitted to: Mam Madiha

1
Total Suspended Particles:
Introduction:
The air we breathe is a mixture of gases and small solid and liquid particles. Some
substances come from natural sources while others are caused by human activities such
as our use of motor vehicles, domestic activities, industry, and business. Air pollution
occurs when the air contains substances in quantities that could harm the comfort or
health of humans and animals or could damage plants and materials. These substances
are called air pollutants and can be either particle, liquids, or gaseous in nature.

Objective:
 Our objective was to understand what air sampling is, what is TSP Sampler, and How
to do a sampling of particulate matter while using the instrument.

Theory:
 Air sampling is capturing the contaminant from a known volume of air, measuring
the amount of contaminant captured, and expressing it as a concentration.
 Particulate matter is a criteria pollutant that is classified as follows depending upon
the size of the particles
 PM10
 PM2.5
 Total Suspended Particulate Matter (TSP)

All these are sampled by different instruments such as low-volume samplers and high-
volume samplers.
High and low-volume air samplers are instruments used to collect samples of air particles.
The difference between high and low-volume air samplers is the amount of air sampled.
High-volume air samplers typically sample more than 1500 cubic meters (m 3) of air over a
24-hour period, while low-volume air samplers draw through only 24m 3 of air or less.

Total Suspended Particulate Matter


Total suspended particulate matter (TSP) monitoring measures the total amount of particles
suspended in the atmosphere. TSP samples may also be used to determine the levels of
chemical elements and compounds in the particles which may pose a risk to human health.
An instrument called a high-volume air sampler is used to collect TSP samples. The high-
volume air sampler draws a large known volume of air through a pre-weighed filter for 24
hours.
The design of the air inlet means that a TSP high-volume air sampler is unlikely to collect
airborne particles with diameters greater than 100 micrometers (µm) in diameter. This type

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of sampling usually takes place at 6-day intervals due to the need to manually change the
filters.

Principle:
The TSP high volume air sampler collects total suspend particulates in the air.  The
vacuum motors pull ambient air onto the 8″ x 10″ glass fibre filter at a flow rate between
39-60 cfm.  TSP air particulate samplers do not use a particle separator which results in the
collection of all ambient particulates.  The glass fiber filters are weighed pre and post-
sample and the weight are used to determine the total suspended particulate matter.

Apparatus:
 High-Volume Air Sampler (TSP Sampler)
 Filter
 Weight Balance

Procedure:
 I removed the lid of the Air sampler, and it is started.
 I adjusted the flow rate.
  The high-volume air sampler draws a large known volume of air through a pre-
weighed filter for 24 hours.
 After sampling, I reweighed the filter and the difference in filter weight is the
collected particulate matter mass. 

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 I divided the mass by the volume of air sampled giving the concentration of TSP.
 If required, the particulate matter retained on the filter is analyzed to determine
the concentration of pollutants, such as lead or other metals.

Environmental Significance:
 Total suspended particulates are a primary contributor to air pollution, smog
formation, and environmental contamination.
 Corrosion is often a source of certain particulate contributions to TSP.
 When metals become severely corroded, rusted, and other particles are formed and
displaced from the metal's surface. These dust-like substances contribute to particle
emissions in the surrounding atmosphere. As such, corrosion may be a contributing
factor to air pollution and a component of the total suspended particulates (TSP)
observed and recorded.

Conclusion:
 We learned about different types of particulate matter and how the concentration
of Total Suspended particulate Matter is measured in the ambient air by using a
High-Volume Air Sampler and how to use it.

References:
https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/pollution/monitoring/air/air-monitoring/measuring/
samplershttps://tisch-env.com/high-volume-air-sampler/TSP#:~:text=The%20TSP%20high
%20volume%20air%20sampler%20collects%20total%20suspend%20particulates,collection%20of
%20all%20ambient%20particulates

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