Inter-laboratory performance between two nanoparticle air filtration systems using scanning mobility particle analyzers

The performance of two aerosol testing systems, at two different laboratories (University of Nebraska Medical Center—UNMC and 3M Company), was compared to evaluate which calibration procedures minimized variability in filter testing of nanoparticles. Both charged electret and uncharged flat-web fibrous filters were used with Scanning Mobility Particle Sizers to give upstream and downstream size distributions and calculate filter penetration. Challenge aerosols were polydisperse nanoparticles of sodium chloride (NaCl) ranging from approximately 10–300 nm and monodisperse polystyrene latex (PSL) spheres of preselected sizes, including 40, 60, 100, and 200 nm. The implementation of optimized procedures resulted in comparable filtration performance at the two testing sites with challenges of NaCl particles and PSL spheres. The penetration results for the uncharged filter were nearly identical for both challenges, while lower penetration through the charged filter was observed with NaCl aerosol, probably due to differences in NaCl and PSL dielectric constants. Results showed that reproducible, comparable nanoparticle filtration data could be achieved between two separate laboratories when sources of error and proper calibration procedures were addressed.