Performance evaluation of two personal bioaerosol samplers.

In this study, the performance of two newly developed personal bioaerosol samplers for monitoring the level of environmental and occupational airborne microorganisms was evaluated. These new personal bioaerosol samplers were designed based on a swirling cyclone with recirculating liquid film. The performance evaluation included collection efficiency tests using inert aerosols, the bioaerosol survival test using viable airborne microorganism, and the evaluation of using non-aqueous collection liquid for long-period sampling. The test results showed that these two newly developed personal bioaerosol samplers are capable of doing high efficiency, aerosol sampling (the cutoff diameters are around 0.7 μm for both samplers), and have proven to provide acceptable survival for the collected bioaerosols. By using an appropriate non-aqueous collection liquid, these two personal bioaerosol samplers should be able to permit continuous, long-period bioaerosol sampling with considerable viability for the captured bioaerosols.