The interplay of bio-aerosol dispersion and impact, meteorology, and air quality is gaining increasing interest in the wide spectrum of atmospheric sciences. Experiments conducted inside confined artificial environments, such as atmospheric simulation chambers (ASCs), where atmospheric conditions and composition are controlled, can provide valuable information on bio-aerosol viability, dispersion, and impact. We focus here on the reproducible aerosolization and injection of viable microorganisms into an ASC, the first and crucial step of any experimental protocol to expose bio-aerosols to different atmospheric conditions. We compare the performance of three nebulizers specifically designed for bio-aerosol applications: the Collison nebulizer, the Blaustein Atomizing Modules (BLAM), and the Sparging Liquid Aerosol Generator (SLAG), all manufactured and commercialized by CH TECHNOLOGIES. The comparison refers to operating conditions and the concentration of viable bacteria at the nebulizer outlet, with the final goal being to measure the reproducibility of the nebulization procedures and assess their application in experiments inside ASCs. A typical bacterial test model, Escherichia coli (ATCC^® 25922™), was selected for such characterization. Bacteria suspensions with a concentration around 10⁸ CFU mL⁻¹ were first aerosolized at different air pressures and collected by a liquid impinger to obtain a correlation curve between airflow and nebulized bacteria for each generator. Afterwards, bacteria were aerosolized inside the atmospheric simulation chamber ChAMBRe (Chamber for Aerosol Modelling and Bio-aerosol Research) to measure the reproducibility of the whole procedure. An overall reproducibility of 11 % (i.e., standard deviation of the results obtained with the three nebulizers) was obtained with each nebulizer through a set of baseline experiments.

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与大气模拟室相关的生物气溶胶雾化器性能的比较表征

生物气溶胶扩散和影响、气象学和空气质量之间的相互作用正在引起广泛的大气科学越来越多的兴趣。在受控制的人工环境（例如大气模拟室 (ASC)）内进行的实验可以提供有关生物气溶胶活力、扩散和影响的宝贵信息，其中大气条件和成分受到控制。我们在这里专注于可重复的气溶胶化和将活微生物注入 ASC，这是将生物气溶胶暴露于不同大气条件的任何实验方案的第一步和关键步骤。我们比较了三种专为生物气溶胶应用设计的雾化器的性能：Colison 雾化器、Blaustein 雾化模块 (BLAM) 和喷射液体气溶胶发生器 (SLAG)，全部由 CH TECHNOLOGIES 制造和商业化。比较是指雾化器出口处的操作条件和活菌浓度，最终目标是测量雾化程序的重现性并评估它们在 ASC 内部实验中的应用。一个典型的细菌测试模型，大肠杆菌（ATCC ^® 25922™），被选择用于这样的表征。浓度约为10 ⁸  CFU mL ^{-1 的}细菌悬浮液首先在不同的气压下雾化并通过液体撞击器收集以获得每个发生器的气流和雾化细菌之间的相关曲线。之后，细菌在大气模拟室 ChAMBRe（气溶胶建模和生物气溶胶研究室）内被雾化，以测量整个过程的再现性。通过一组基线实验，每个雾化器获得了 11% 的总体重现性（即，使用三个雾化器获得的结果的标准偏差）。