Characterization of particle emission from laser printers

Abstract

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 environments. 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 terms of number, surface area and mass were found to be within the ranges from 3.39×10partmin to 1.61×10partmin, 1.06×10mmmin to 1.46×10mmmin and 1.32×10μgmin to 1.23×10μgmin, respectively, while the median mode value of the emitted particles was found equal to 34nm. In addition, the effect of laser printing emissions in terms of employees' exposure in offices was evaluated on the basis of the emission rates, by calculating the daily surface area doses (as sum of alveolar and tracheobronchial deposition fraction) received assuming a typical printing scenario. In such typical printing conditions, a relatively low total surface area dose (2.7mm) 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.

Characterization of particle emissions from consumer fused deposition modeling 3D printers

“…Figure 9. Average particle number emission rates (PERs) during printing period for various materials tested in this study (PLA, ABS and nylon) and previous studies (Other PLA, Other ABS, and Other other material) (Azimi et al 2016;Kim et al 2015;Stabile et al 2017;Steinle 2016;Stephens et al 2013;Yi et al 2016), compared to laser printers (Laser) (He et al 2007;Koivisto et al 2010;Scungio et al 2017;Salthammer et al 2012) (Table S2) during printing period for various materials tested in this study (PLA, ABS, and nylon), and previous studies on 3D printers (Other PLA, Other ABS, and Other other material) (Azimi et al 2016;Deng et al 2016;Kim et al 2015;Stabile et al 2017;Steinle 2016;Stephens et al 2013;Yi et al 2016;Zontek et al 2016), compared to laser printers (Laser) (Koivisto et al 2010;Uhde et al 2006;Wensing et al 2008;Byeon and Kim 2012;Morawska et al 2009;Schripp et al 2008;Wang et al 2011 plate for PLA was not significant; probably because the build plate temperature for PLA was too low (50 C) to generate significant concentrations of vapors, consistent with low vapor emissions (i.e., particle emissions) from PLA in general due to lower extruder temperatures. An overall summary of particle emissions for the filament materials tested is shown in Figure 7.…”

Inflammation Increases Susceptibility of Human Small Airway Epithelial Cells to Pneumonic Nanotoxicity

“…that is commonly incorporated in a wide range of consumer goods, [2,3] whereas incidental NM may be generated from activities such as steel welding, printing, and vaping (e-cigarette). [4][5][6] Due to their increased demand and rampant production, the annual flux of anthropogenic NM circulating within our earth system was estimated to be in the astonishing range of 1-10 million metric tons per year. [1] Because of their ubiquitous presence in the environment, human exposure to NM by means of inhalation in our everyday life is inadvertent.…”

The Effect of Ventilation Strategies on Indoor Air Quality and Energy Consumptions in Classrooms

“…Therefore, it is a good parameter to describe the behavior of all the indoor-generated gaseous compounds and pollutants, such as relative humidity, radon and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) [21][22][23]. On the contrary, the CO 2 cannot be considered representative of other pollutants such as outdoor-generated gaseous and particle-phase compounds (e.g., ultrafine particles, NO x , heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons mainly emitted by outdoor sources), and indoor-generated particles (e.g., PM 10 due to resuspension phenomena and chalk use in schools, or ultrafine particles emitted by indoor combustion sources) due to their different dynamics and origins [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. The current technical standards mostly impose air exchange rates for the different building use in order to maintain the CO 2 concentrations below certain levels [19].…”