Evaluation of DustTrak DRX to estimate respirable quartz during hydraulic fracturing
Abstract
Two particulate matter (PM) size range concentrations, ≤ 4µm (PM4) and 1-4µm (PM1-4), measured from a DustTrak DRX 8533 (TSI Inc, Shoreview, MN), were compared to respirable quartz concentrations from a GK2.69 cyclone (Mesa Labs, Park Place Butler, NJ) and a nylon cyclone (TSI Inc, Shoreview, MN) during hydraulic fracturing in the shale plays of Haynesville-Bossier (Louisiana), Eagle Ford (Texas), and Permian Basin (New Mexico). The goal of the study was to evaluate the use of DustTrak respirable dust measurements as a surrogate for respirable quartz concentrations during hydraulic fracturing. DustTrak PM4 (17 samples), DustTrak PM1-4 (17 samples), GK2.69 cyclone (17 samples) and nylon cyclone (17 samples) measurements were log normally distributed. A one-way ANOVA suggested significant effect on respirable quartz geometric means at the p<0.05 level for DustTrak PM 4, DustTrak PM1-4, GK2.69 cyclone respirable quartz and nylon cyclone respirable quartz geometric means. Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicated that the mean measurement for the DustTrak PM 1-4 condition (GM = 0.017 mg/m3, GSD = 1.244) was significantly different (p < 0.001) from GK2.69 cyclone respirable quartz measurement (GM = 0.076 mg/m3, GSD = 0.949), significantly different (p < 0.001) from nylon cyclone respirable quartz measurements (GM = 0.046 mg/m3, GSD = 0.966) and significantly different (p = 0.001) from DustTrak PM4 measurements (GM = 0.198 mg/m3, GSD = 0.635). However, the DustTrak PM4 measurements did not significantly differ from the GK2.69 cyclone respirable quartz measurement (p = 0.990) or nylon cyclone respirable quartz measurements (p = 0.697). GK 2.69 respirable quartz measurement were not significantly different from respirable quartz measurements from a nylon cyclone (p = 0.852). In the simple linear regression analysis, the highest coefficient of correlation for respirable quartz was found when comparing the nylon cyclone and DustTrak PM1-4 (R = 0.847), followed by the nylon cyclone and DustTrak PM4 (R = 0.798). The GK2.69 respirable quartz correlations were R = 0.735 when compared to the DustTrak PM1-4 measurements and R = 0.636 when comparing to the DustTrak PM4 measurements. Error of predicted values confirmed that the DustTrak PM1-4 comparison with respirable quartz nylon had the smallest standard error value (SE = 0.29), followed by the DustTrak PM4 comparison with respirable quartz nylon cyclone (SE = 0.36). Results in this study suggest that measurements using DustTrak may be useful to estimate respirable quartz concentration in real time due to high correlations and low predicted standard error values.
Subject Area
Occupational health|Environmental Health|Public health
Recommended Citation
Lopez, Justin Miguel, "Evaluation of DustTrak DRX to estimate respirable quartz during hydraulic fracturing" (2016). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI10127338.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI10127338