Development of emission factors for particulate matter in a school
Schools have complex indoor environments which are influenced by many factors such as number of occupants, building design, office equipment, cleaning agents, and school activities. Like large office buildings, school environments may be adversely influenced by deficiencies in ventilation which may be due to improper operation of HVAC systems, attempts at energy efficiency that limit the supply of outdoor air, or remodeling of building components. Most importantly, children spend up to a third of their time in these structures, and thus it is desirable to better understand the environmental quality in these buildings. A middle school (grades 6 to 8) in a residential section of Springfield, IL was selected for this baseline indoor air quality survey. The school was characterized as having no health complaints, good maintenance schedules, and did not contain carpeting within the classrooms or hallways. The focus of this paper is on the measurements of air quality in the school. The development of emission factors for particulate matter is also discussed. Four indoor locations including the Cafeteria, a Science Classroom, an Art Classroom, and the Lobby outside of the main office, and one outdoor location were sampled for various environmental comfort and pollutant parameters for one week in February of 1997. Integrated samples (8 hour sampling time) for respirable and total particulate matter, and short-term measurements of bioaerosols (two minute samples, three times per day) on three consecutive days were collected at each of the indoor and outdoor sites. Continuous measurements of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, temperature and humidity were logged at all locations for five days. Continuous measurements of respirable particulate matter were also collected in the Lobby area. Detailed logs of occupant activity were also collected at each indoor monitoring location throughout the study. Total particle concentrations ranged from 29 to 177 {micro}g/m{sup 3} in the art room and lobby, respectively. Respirable particle concentrations ranged from 13 to 38 {micro}g/m{sup 3} in the art room and lobby, respectively. The most abundant fungi identified were Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Yeasts. Gram +, gram {minus} and actinomyces were also quantified. A strong relationship between occupancy and corresponding carbon dioxide and particle concentrations was seen. Use of a one compartment mass balance model applied to each room is shown to be a useful method for evaluating and pollutant emission rates. Emission factors represented by the slope of emission rate versus occupancy were the best estimate of occupancy based emissions.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, IL (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20003306
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-990608-; TRN: IM200003%%141
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Air and Waste 92nd Annual Meeting and Exhibition, St. Louis, MO (US), 06/20/1999--06/24/1999; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating Systems: Windows 3.1, '95, '98 and NT; Macintosh; and UNIX; PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: Air and Waste 92nd annual meeting and exhibition proceedings, [9500] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
A Pilot Study of the Effectiveness of Indoor Plants for Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Air in a Seven-Story Office Building
Post-occupancy evaluation of indoor environmental quality in ten nonresidential buildings in Chongqing, China