Extraction of dust collected in HVAC filters for quantitative filter forensics

Figures & data

Figure 1. Overall cumulative mass recovered (a) and recovery efficiency (b) from the artificially loaded filters in terms of test dust and filter type. Dashed lines connect first (black) and second (red) cycle of extraction over the same filter. Larger size markers denote heavily loaded filters (>4 g).

Figure 2. Particle size distribution of ISO and ASHRAE test dust and the recovered dust from MERV 11 filters (i.e., base cases). n refers to the number of analyzed samples.

Figure 3. Cumulative overall mass recovered and recovery efficiency from the naturally loaded filters. Colors denote cycle number (black: cycle 1, red: cycle 2, and blue: cycle 3). n represents the number of filters that are included in each box.

Table 1. Minimum dust mass required in terms of analytes, their MDL, and concentrations.

Analyte	MDL (µg)*		Concentrations (µg/g)**		Minimum Mass (g)
	Low	High	Low	High	Worst	Medium	Best
Pb	4.8E-4	3.0	8.4	357.0	0.4	5.7E-5	1.3E-6
Cd	8.0E-5	0.3	1.0	11.1	0.3	8.0E-5	7.2E-6
As	0.07	5.3	1.0	26.7	5.3	0.07	0.002
Cr	4.0E-4	12.5	58.0	177.0	0.2	6.9E-6	2.3E-6
PAHs	0.002	0.02	1.5	15.3	0.01	0.001	1.3E-4
PBDEs	1.7E-5	5.9E-4	1.7	30.0	3.4E-4	9.8E-6	5.7E-7
PCBs	6.3E-4	0.004	0.009	0.6	0.4	0.07	0.001
Phthalates	7.5E-4	0.02	27.0	3670.0	5.6E-4	2.8E-5	2.0E-7

*Trace metals: Al-Momani (2007); Siddique, Majid, and Tufail (2011); Kurt-Karakus (2012); Yang, Chen, and Li (2015a); PAHs: Maertens et al. (2008); Whitehead et al. (2011); PBDEs: Krol, Namiesnik, and Zabiegala (2014); Chou et al. (2016); PCBs: Abb et al. (2010); Kang et al. (2013); Phthalates: Kang et al. (2012).

**Trace metals: Noris, Siegel, and Kinney (2009); Rasmussen et al. (2013); PAHs: Maertens et al. (2008), Yang, Li, and Fan (2015b); PBDEs and phthalates: Xu et al. (2015); PCBs: DellaValle et al. (2013).

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