Table 4.
Metal concentrations (µg/m3) in the respirable fraction samples of recycling workers in five german e-waste recycling sheltered workshops collected with personal and stationary sampling systems
| Recycling workers Personal Sampling |
Recycling workers Stationary Sampling |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metal [µg/m3]* | n | Median (GM) Range |
n | Median (GM) Range |
| Aluminium | 4 |
1.8 (1.74) 1.4–2.1 |
12 |
1.50 (1.62) 0.75–4.5 |
| Antimony | 4 |
0.077 (0.076) 0.064–0.088 |
12 |
0.062 (0.064) 0.047–0.14 |
| Arsenic | 4 |
0.026 (0.025) 0.022–0.029 |
12 |
0.032 (0.033) 0.021–0.077 |
| Beryllium | NA | NA | ||
| Cadmium | 4 |
0.0082 (0.0081) 0.0068–0.0094 |
12 |
0.0068 (0.0074) 0.005–0.015 |
| Chromium | 4 |
0.079 (0.077) 0.065–0.09 |
12 |
0.12 (0.11) 0.065–0.24 |
| Cobalt | 4 |
0.022 (0.021) 0.018–0.024 |
12 |
0.034 (0.034) 0.018–0.062 |
| Nickel | 4 |
0.077 (0.076) 0.064–0.088 |
12 |
0.084 (0.08) 0.047–0.20 |
| Mercury | NA | NA | ||
Personal sampling of the respirable dust fraction was only conducted as part of a pilot study (see “Results”)
NA not available
During calculation of the statistical location parameters median and geometric mean (GM), samples beneath the limit of quantification (LOQ) were assigned a numerical value equal to the LOQ. Refer to Table 1 for the LOQs