☆ 4.5 Article

Evaluation of Low-Cost Sensors for Ambient PM2.5 Monitoring

JOURNAL OF SENSORS (2018)

Journal

JOURNAL OF SENSORS

Volume 2018, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

HINDAWI LTD

DOI: 10.1155/2018/5096540

Keywords

Funding

Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
Ministry of Science and Higher Education [0402/0130/17]
European Union
NFOSiGW within LIFE+ Program, Project LIFE-APIS/PL-Air Pollution and biometeorological forecast and Information System [LIFE12 ENV/PL/000056]

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Abstract

Low-cost sensors are an opportunity to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of particulate matter data. However, such sensors should be calibrated under conditions close to the final ones before any monitoring actions. The paper presents the results of a collocated comparison of four models of low-cost optical sensors with a TEOM 1400a analyser. SDS011 (Nova Fitness), ZH03A (Winsen), PMS7003 (Plantower), and OPC-N2 (Alphasense) sensors were used in this research. Three copies of each sensor model were placed in a common box to compare the sensor performance under the same measurement conditions. Monitoring of the PM2.5 fraction was conducted for almost half a year from 21 August 2017 to 19 February 2018 in Wroclaw (Poland). Reproducibility between sensor units was assessed on the basis of coefficient of variation (CV). CV values were lower than 7% in the case of SDS011 and PMS7003 sensors and equal to 20% for OPC-N2 units. CV was higher than 50% for ZHO3A, mainly due to malfunctions. During the measurements, the trends of outputs from sensors were generally similar to TEOM data, but significant overestimation of PM2.5 concentrations was observed for the sensor raw data. A high linear relationship between TEOM and sensors was noticed for 1 min, 15 min, and 1-hour averaged data for PMS7003 sensors (R-2 approximate to 0.83-0.89), for SDS011 units (R-2 approximate to 0.79-0.86), and for one unit of ZHO3A (R-2 approximate to 0.74-0.81). R-2 values for daily averages were at the level 0.91-0.93 for PMS7003, 0.87-0.90 for SDS011, and 0.89 for ZHO3A. OPC-N2 had only a moderate linear relationship with TEOM (R-2 approximate to 0.53-0.69 for daily data and 0.43-0.61 for shorter time averages). Quite large dispersion of data and high relative errors of PM 2.5 estimation were observed for concentration ranges below 20-30 mu g/m(3) . The impact of high relative humidity level was observed for SDS011 and OPC-N2 devices-clear overestimation of outputs was observed above 80% RH.

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Low-Cost Sensor Performance Intercomparison, Correction Factor Development, and 2+Years of Ambient PM2.5 Monitoring in Accra, Ghana

Garima Raheja, James Nimo, Emmanuel K. -E. Appoh, Benjamin Essien, Maxwell Sunu, John Nyante, Mawuli Amegah, Reginald Quansah, Raphael E. Arku, Stefani L. Penn, Michael R. Giordano, Zhonghua Zheng, Darby Jack, Steven Chillrud, Kofi Amegah, R. Subramanian, Robert Pinder, Ebenezer Appah-Sampong, Esi Nerquaye Tetteh, Mathias A. Borketey, Allison Felix Hughes, Daniel M. Westervelt

Summary: Particulate matter air pollution is a leading cause of global mortality, and many low- and middle-income countries lack sufficient ambient monitoring. Recent studies have utilized low-cost sensors to address these data gaps. In this study, different brands of low-cost sensors in Africa were compared, and it was found that each type of low-cost sensor PM2.5 is strongly correlated with reference PM2.5, but biased high for ambient mixture of sources found in Accra, Ghana.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (2023)