Air monitoring station
The station started operating in July 1995 and was officially opened by the Minister for Environment and Heritage, Tom Barton, MLA on 14 December 1995. Monitoring conducted since then at the research station has resulted in a unique database of of particle size distribution in the size range from nanometer to about 30 micrometers. Learn more about the Air monitoring station.
Smog chambers
Smog chambers are normally used for investigating chemical and physical transformations of aerosols and gaseous pollutants upon exposure to atmospheric oxidants (ozone, hydroxyl radicals or nitrate radicals during night-time). We have two smog chambers – mobile and stationary. Our mobile smog chamber is a flexible 7 m3 Teflon bag mounted on a frame in a temperature-controlled trailer equipped with UV-A lamps, ozone generator and injection system for the precursors of OH radicals (HONO or H2O2), humidity adjustment and a zero-air generator (AADCO Instruments). Our stationary smog chamber is of the same size and has a similar set-up as the mobile chamber, but it is housed in a temperature-controlled room.
Bioaerosol Aging Rotator Machine
The bioaerosol aging rotator machine was designed and manufactured at QUT to study the behaviour and survival rates of airborne respiratory pathogens in diverse indoor air scenarios. This system consists of a 400 L rotating stainless steel drum with a rotation rate of 1.7 rpm which allows for optimisation the retention of bioaerosols (≤5µm) against gravitational settling in respirable size. The rotator and connected plumbing are fully sealed and received safety and biosafety approval at both university and local government levels. Several indoor air scenarios can be modelled in the rotator to allow control over environmental parameters including temperature, RH and sunlight intensity. Temperature is controlled using a thermoelectric heating and cooling system embedded in the wall of the outer cabinet to allow for internal temperature adjustment within ±0.5 °C, for the range 13-30 °C. UV radiation (mimicking sunlight light) and RH adjustments have been recently added to the system, allowing the modelling of air during both warm and cold seasons.