Inhalation exposure to nanosized aerosols of disinfectants for the application of continuous releasing sprayers and fogger

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the airborne exposure to aerosols according to the particle size distribution of three different spray types (nano-nozzled spray gun, low-temperature steam spray, and fogger) and compare the concentrations of inhaled aerosols between children and adults. Airborne aerosols released from three products were observed using size-segregated particle measurements, and particle concentrations deposited in the respiratory tracts of adults and children were estimated using multi-path particle dosimetry lung deposition models. All types of sprayers generated the most nanoparticles (~100 nm). Due to their higher respiratory rate than adults, a larger number of particles <1.0 μm deposited in the children’s respiratory tracts was higher. The sequences of the total number of particles in the respiratory regions after spraying nano-nozzled spray gun and fogger were alveolar (AL)>tracheobronchial (TB)>head airway (HA) in adults and AL>HA>TB in children. Meanwhile, the trend of low-temperature steam spray was AL>TB>HA in adults and AL>TB>HA in children.

KEYWORDS:

• Inhalation exposure
• spray-type disinfectant
• continuous release
• droplet size

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Supplemental material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2024.2334780

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Research Program funded by Korea Ministry of Environment (fund code: 2022-31-0621)