Evaluation of the feasibility of reusing polyurethane foam (PUF) cartridges for monitoring bioaerosols

• DOI: 10.15406/mojes.2024.09.00325
• Publication Date: 2024-08-31T05:32:01Z
• Authors: Guillermo Manuel ...; Paula Montserrat ...; Amado Enrique Nav...

Bioaerosols are a fundamental component of particulate matter present in the air, and numerous sampling and detection techniques have been developed to study them. While the simultaneous determination of organics and microorganisms in particulate matter could offer advantages, this approach has not been well explored. Some techniques for analyzing organic compounds in particulate matter involving using a polyurethane foam (PUF) cartridge or disk which, depending on the analytic procedure, may need to be cleaned with chemicals that could compromise the growth or recovery of microorganisms if used for this purpose. This study aims to determine whether chemical pretreatment of PUF affect negatively the results of the sampling. Additionally, the potential for microorganism growth on previously used PUF was evaluated. After sterilization, the results demonstrated that microorganism growth is possible on both chemically treated and reused PUF. These findings suggest that reusing PUF could reduce costs and waste after sampling.