Fundamental Aerosol Studies with an Ultrasonic Nebulizer

Abstract

Laser scattering particle size measurements, together with aerosol and vapor mass transport, were used to characterize the aerosol generated with an ultrasonic nebulizer (USN). Several fundamental aspects of the ultrasonic primary and tertiary aerosols were studied, including drop size distributions, Sauter mean diameters, analyte mass transport, and solvent mass transport. These characteristics were compared with comparable data obtained with a concentric, all-glass (Meinhard type) pneumatic nebulizer. It was found that the ultrasonic nebulizer generated a primary aerosol which had a substantially broader size distribution than the pneumatic nebulizer. However, overall both analyte and solvent mass transport for the USN were much greater than for the pneumatic nebulizer.