Simple Liquid Scrubber for Large-Volume Air Sampling

Abstract

A new large-volume air sampler called the “simple liquid scrubber” is described. It can recover a high percentage of microorganisms from large volumes of air, up to 950 liters/min, and concentrate them into a small volume of liquid at a ratio of about 400,000 to 1. The principle of operation of the scrubber is based on the production of a fine mist in a rapidly moving airstream with ultimate collection of the airborne particles by impingement into the film of liquid formed upon impaction of the mist droplets on the scrubber walls. The scrubber compared favorably with the all-glass impinger (AGI-30) and the slit sampler in tests with the normal flora and with experimental aerosols of Bacillus subtilis var. niger spores.