Characterisation and enhancement of low-cost optical particle counters for air pollution monitoring in diverse environments

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Respirable particulate matter (PM) is a global health concern andlarge environmental risk factor for morbidity and mortality whichdisproportionately affects developing countries, women andchildren. Measuring PM accurately is technically challenging.Current methods require significant resources to maintain andmodern analytical methods are unable to detect the spatialinhomogeneity of PM concentrations in urban environments.Technological advancements have miniaturised detection methods,reduced costs and increased portability. Therefore, there is apotential for increased spatial and temporal measurements.Laboratory and field evaluations of low-cost optical particlecounters (OPC) show significant artefacts from meteorologicalvariables such as relative humidity (RH) and physicochemicalvariables such as chemical composition and size distribution. Thesevariables can change over short distances in urban environmentsand this project aims to characterise low-cost OPC's against a suiteof state-of-the-art reference instrumentation in diverseenvironments.London has two atmospheric supersites that's allows for evaluationto uniquely take place concurrently at kerbside and urbanbackground locations. Additionally, an indoor campaign will takeplace at a dwelling. This will uniquely provide a diverse range ofaerosol physical and chemical properties that the OPC technologywill be exposed to. An international location will be sought to assessthe correction algorithm and issues facing OPC's in diverse andextreme environments. The above approach will provide a fullcharacterisation of three different low-cost OPC's in environmentswhere they are most likely to be situated. This project will deliver anovel correction algorithm based on aerosol chemistry as well asevidence-based recommendations for future assessment of thisnew technology.