Dust Entrainment and Characterization Facility

Lab Description

DRI’s Dust Entrainment and Characterization Facility is a one-of-a-kind aerosol entrainment facility designed and built by DRI specifically for the measurement of dust. The system consists of a re-suspension chamber with filter samplers and monitors to measure various aerosol parameters. The current system is configured for the collection of mineral dust by PM10 and PM2.5 filter samplers, and the simultaneous monitoring of particle size distribution (TSI aerodynamic particle analyzer), PM10 and PM2.5 particulate mass (Kimoto PM-712 dichotomous beta attenuation gauge), absorption and scattering at three wavelengths (405, 532, 781nm) (Droplet Measurement Technologies PASS-3 photoacoustic spectrometer). Dust samples collected on filters are for gravimetric, chemical, electron microscopic (SEM) and X-ray diffractometric (XRD) analysis. The system can also be used for the testing and calibration of aerosol sampling equipment under controlled laboratory conditions.