Laser Printers Emit Toxic Micro Dust
A new study is researching what factors lead laser printers to emit toxic particles into the air. Laser printers are the biggest polluting piece of equipment in the typical office.
Individual components were heated separately in furnaces so that researchers could observe how they emitted particulates in response to heat. They found that each component had a threshhold under which emissions were almost nonexistent. Then there was a higher threshhold determined at which only volatile organic compounds were emitted and another threshold at which both volatile organic compounds and particulates were produced.
The researchers also operated the printers in different settings to measure either the nature of particles emitted or to measure how long the particles persisted. The laser printer emitted about 100,000 percent more particulates than the other printer mostly because of a different pattern of particulate release.
Toner or paper type had only limited effect on volatile organic compounds or particulate emissions. These findings have led the researchers to conclude that printer design is the biggest indicator of emissions levels.
