Concentrations of culturable microorganisms [minimum/maximum]* in residential air neighbouring a bioaerosol releasing composting site
| Total bacteria [CFU‡ m−3 air] | Moulds [CFU m−3 air] | Thermophilic actinomycetes [CFU m−3 air] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample points (by distance and direction to composting site†) | Min | Max | Min | Max | Min | Max |
| *Minimum (Min) and maximum (Max) values of three repeated measurements. †“Kompostwerk Langes Feld”, Kassel, Germany. ‡CFU, colony forming units. §SE, southeast. ¶ND, not detected. **NW, northwest. ††WNW, west-northwest. ‡‡N, north. §§Although there was a cold air flow from the composting site towards the studied neighbouring residential area “worst case” conditions. | ||||||
| Upwind | ||||||
| 500 m SE§ | 8.4×102 | 1.8×103 | 1.9×103 | 3.6×103 | [ND]¶ | [ND] |
| Downwind | ||||||
| 200 m NW** | 2.2×104 | 5.1×105 | 7.7×103 | 1.3×105 | 2.3×104 | 5.5×105 |
| 250 m WNW†† | 3.9×104 | 1.7×105 | 1.3×104 | 4.6×104 | 1.9×104 | 1.1×105 |
| 300 m N‡‡ | 4.4×103 | 8.3×104 | 4.3×103 | 1.7×104 | 2.8×103 | 6.0×104 |
| 320 m NW | 6.8×103 | 5.9×104 | 3.9×103 | 1.9×104 | 1.3×103 | 5.0×104 |
| 550 m N | 8.3×102 | 4.3×103 | 2.3×103 | 4.1×103 | <5 | 9.9×102 |
| Sampling conditions | ||||||
| Samplers | Filter based MD 8 Sartorius, (Goettingen, Germany), flow rate 8 m−3h−1 | |||||
| Collection time | 10 min at 1.5 m above ground level with subsequent indirect plating method after filtration and precipitation on gelatine filters | |||||
| Detection limit | 40 CFU | |||||
| Date and time | 07.08.1997; 00:00–02:15§§ | |||||