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Monitoring and Assessment of O3 and PM1 in the Microenvironment of a Workplace

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Abstract

Workplaces using office equipment often experience poor air quality in their indoor microenvironments. Office equipment, e.g., photocopier and printer, emits higher levels of ozone (O3) and fine particles. This study uses field measurements to recognize and examine the patterns of the concentrations of O3 and fine particles of aerodynamic diameter less than 1 μ (PM1) in the workplace microenvironment during working and nonworking hours. The O3 and PM1 concentrations were measured simultaneously along with the climate variables from July 2011 to March 2012. The transient levels of these pollutants were also estimated to investigate the observed patterns under normal and closed ventilation conditions. Based on the old and new equipment and their use, different impact scenarios have been developed to study the relationships among O3, PM1, and climate variables. Results revealed that photocopiers contribute to O3, and the printing operations contribute to both O3 and PM1. Further, O3 contributes to PM1 in favorable climatic condition.

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Notes

  1. The relative effects represent the change in the mean values of the observed parameters such as O3, PM1, T, and RH in percentage for scenario II relative to scenario I and for case I and case II relative to scenario II.

  2. \( \mathrm{S}\mathrm{E}\;\mathrm{of}\;\mathrm{regression}=\sqrt{\left[\frac{1}{\left(n-p\right)}\cdot {\displaystyle \sum_{i=1}^n{\left({\overline{Y}}_i-{Y}_i\right)}^2}\right]} \), where p is the number of independent variables.

Abbreviations

C t [ppm] :

Indoor concentration of CO2

C ext [ppm] :

Outdoor concentration of CO2

C 0 [ppm] :

Indoor concentration of CO2 at time 0

q CO2 [m 3 /h] :

Volumetric indoor emission rate of CO2

Q [m 3 /h] :

Volume flow rate of air entering the space (ventilation rate)

V [m 3 ] :

Volume of indoor space

t [h] :

Time

V i [m 3 ] :

Volume of zone i

C i [mg/m 3 ] :

Pollutant concentration in zone i

n R :

Number of indoor sources in zone i

R j [mg/h] :

Emission rate for j indoor source in zone i

p :

Penetration factor for zone i

n z :

Number of air zones

Q ki [m 3 /h] :

Airflow rate from zone k to zone i and k ≠ i

C k [mg/m 3 ] :

Pollutant concentration in zone k

Q ik [m 3 /h] :

Airflow rate from zone i to zone k and k ≠ i

n s :

Number of interior surface types

S L [m 2 ] :

Surface area for interior surface L in zone i

k aL :

Adsorption rate constant for surface L whose unit depends on f(C i )

f(C i ) :

Function of C i

k dL :

Desorption rate constant for surface L whose unit depends on f(M L )

f(M L ) :

Function of M L

M L [mg/m 2 ] :

Amount of pollutant adsorbed on surface L

n f :

Number of air filters/cleaners associated with zone i

R p :

Pollutant removal efficiency for air filter/cleaner p (dimensionless)

Q p [m 3 /h] :

Airflow rate passing through air filter/cleaner p

n X :

Number of gas phase chemical reactions

X q [mg/(m 3 .h)] :

Rate of chemical reaction q

S [m 2 ] :

Surface area

K a [m/h] :

Adsorption rate constant (deposition velocity)

C [μg/m 3 or mg/m 3 ] :

Concentration in indoor air

k d [1/h] :

Desorption rate constant

M [mg/m 2 ] :

Amount of chemical adsorbed by the surface

C in,t [mg/m 3 ] :

Peak concentrations in the chamber

C in,o [mg/m 3 ] :

Initial background concentrations in the chamber

C in [mg/m 3 ] :

Average value of concentration between the initial background and peak

λ [1/h] :

Total removal rate

Q s [mg/h] :

Emission rate

∆t [h] :

Time difference between initial background and peak concentration

Q oi [m 3 /h] :

Airflow rate from outside to zone i

C 0 [μg/m 3 ] :

Pollutant concentration in ambient air

f ji :

Filter removal efficiency for airflow from zone j to zone i and j ≠ i

Q ji [m 3 /h] :

Airflow rate from zone j to zone i and j ≠ i

C j [μg/m 3 ] :

Concentration in zone j

Q ij [m 3 /h] :

Airflow rate from zone i to zone j and j ≠ i

R k [μg/h] :

Emission rate for indoor source k

k D [1/h] :

First-order deposition rate constant

Q 1 [m 3 /h] :

Airflow rate passing through the free-standing air filter 1

F :

Removal efficiency for the free-standing air filter 1 (dimensionless)

n :

Number of air zones

m :

Number of indoor sources in zone i

q :

Number of free-standing air filter/cleaners in zone i

R [μg/h] :

Deposition rate

D vi [m/h] :

Deposition velocity for surface i

S i [m 2 ] :

Area of surface i

N :

Number of surface materials

D k [1/h] :

First-order deposition rate constant

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781 039, India

    Satya Durga Ch. & Sharad Gokhale

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  1. Satya Durga Ch.
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  2. Sharad Gokhale
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Correspondence to Sharad Gokhale.

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Durga Ch., S., Gokhale, S. Monitoring and Assessment of O3 and PM1 in the Microenvironment of a Workplace. Environ Model Assess 20, 521–534 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-014-9440-4

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