Active Air Sampling Vs Passive Air Sampling

This article discusses the utility of active air versus passive air settle plate monitoring in a routine environmental monitoring program with an emphasis on the monitoring of the critical grade a environments.

Active air sampling vs passive air sampling.

Passive sampler is becoming more and more an effective alternative for conventional active sampler in exposure and health effects studies given its simplicity and low cost. In active monitoring a microbial air sampler is used to force air into or onto its collection medium e g petri dish with nutrient agar based test media over a specified period of time. Passive sampling relies on the kinetic energy of gas molecules and diffusion of the gases in an enclosed space onto a sorbent medium. Portable samplers such as the sas super 180 allow users to quickly sample at multiple locations within a clean room.

It is recognized that there has been a long standing historical use of settle plates in t. Active sampling requires the use of a pumping device to actively pass air through an air sample container whereas passive sampling does not. Active sampling involves the use of an air sampling pump to actively pull air through a collection device such as a filter. Accurate measurement of air pollutants in outdoor indoor and or personal air is critical for assessing exposure to air pollution and potential health effects.

Active there are two primary methods for microbial air sampling. Passive sampling however does not require active air movement from a pump. Active sampling unlike passive sampling where a number of agar plates are placed throughout the facility at the same time and then all left to sit for 1 hour active sampling requires an air sampling instrument. 44 0 1258 480188 email.

Passive air sampling also referred to as diffusive air sampling passive air sampling basically involves leaving settle plates or contact plates exposed to the air for a certain period of time to collect microbes that may settle onto the surfaces of the plates. Active versus passive air sampling iet september october 2005 author details health safety by eddie salter skc ltd tel. It is recognized that there has been a long standing historical use of settle plates in the pharmaceutical industry and that european regulatory agencies have supported their use. Passive sampling however does not require active air.

Active air sampling will give you a quantitative result and most modern air samplers are easy to use and deploy for general environmental monitoring applications.