Characterising incidental nanoparticles at industrial sites

Taking place from 20th to 22nd September 2023 in sunny Barcelona, CEM 2023 will be our largest emissions monitoring event to date, with more exhibitors and presentations than ever! With 25 years of experience behind it and regular attendance from all around the world, this year’s conference will be CEM’s highly anticipated return to live events – and once again, our Scientific Committee have excelled themselves, putting together a jam-packed programme of talks and workshops delivered by thought-leaders, regulators and industry veterans from all across this global sector. As such, CEM 2023’s conference programme features representatives from many of the major national research institutions, with talks from members of the European Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Bureau (EIPPCB), a department of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre; the Environmental Protection Agency (United States); France's National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS); the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (India); the Technical Research Centre of Finland; Italy’s Institute for Energy System Research (RSE); and the Environmental Protection Agency (United States). 

In addition, CEM 2023 will host leading academics like Dr. Eliseo Monfort Gimeno from the University of James I in Valencia, who will deliver a presentation on the characterisation of incidental nanoparticles at industrial sites. For those unaware, incidental nanoparticles (or INPs) are unintentionally generated by human activity, particularly high-energy industrial processes like engine combustion, plasma cutting, laser ablation, iron casting or thermal spraying. Such activity can create exceedingly dense concentrations of nanoparticles, exposing workers to toxic air. Unfortunately, many workplaces in which INPs are released as part of routine operations remain ill-equipped to control these emissions. Therefore, at present, concentrations in these workplaces are frequently in exceedance of the non-binding recommendations, referred to as the nano reference value (or NRV) which currently stands at 4·104 NP/cm3. A further problem is that there are currently no specific limit values for INPs, the NRV simply mirrors the limit established for Manufactured Nanomaterials (Group 2B). Developing a more appropriate limit value requires competent characterization of the nanoparticles emitted that will be capable of ranking their hazards in relation to existing or adapted (provisional) NRVs. Detailed characterisation of INPs will allow regulators to evaluate the appropriateness of current NRVs as well as to optimise the performance of tailored risk management tools to minimize their impact. As such, Dr. Gimeno has studied occupational exposure to INPs in work environments during critical industrial activities – in particular, high-velocity oxy-fuel thermal spraying (HVOF) and atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). As a result, an exhaustive characterisation of INPs by particle mass concentration, particle number concentrations and size distributions was achieved in three representative industrial scenarios. In his presentation at CEM 2023, Dr. Gimeno will explore this study and its results.   

With two rooms running sessions in parallel over all three days of the conference, attendees to CEM 2023 will have full access to a whole host of presentations that will provide process operators, plant managers, laboratory technicians, instrument users and apprentices with the latest information on developments in emissions monitoring and measuring applications, regulations and technologies.    

If you’re interested in attending this year’s most exciting emission monitoring event, just click here to get your pass to CEM 2023 today.