Dynamic Behavior of Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Air

Dynamic Behavior of Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Air PDF Author: Michael David Van Loy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Dynamic Behavior of Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Air

Dynamic Behavior of Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Air PDF Author: Michael David Van Loy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Dynamic Behavior of Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Air

Dynamic Behavior of Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Air PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Understanding Exposures to Volatile and Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Environments

Understanding Exposures to Volatile and Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Environments PDF Author: Srinandini Parthasarathy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 121

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Humans spend most of their time indoors, in residences and commercial buildings. In this thesis, I evaluate exposures to volatile (VOCs) and semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in indoor environments. I use a combination of literature review and evaluation, mechanistic modeling, and skin-wipe collection and analysis to develop an understanding of the role of indoor air as an exposure medium for inhalation and passive dermal uptake of pollutants. This dissertation explores three related research topics on indoor environments and human exposures. In Chapter 2, I conduct a comprehensive review of reported measurements of pollutants found in commercial buildings. I used the literature review to estimate concentration ranges that can be compared to health-based exposure limits as basis for hazard assessment. I use the regulatory exposure limits set by government agencies to calculate hazard indices as the ratio of observed concentrations to regulatory standards. I also compare the odor and pungency thresholds of individual pollutants to observed concentrations to evaluate their potential to exceed odor thresholds. The hazard evaluation identifies the potential for health impacts at concentrations commonly found in commercial buildings. This analysis focuses exclusively on VOCs and SVOCs in commercial buildings and identified a limited set of pollutants that pose health concerns. I also characterize the selected pollutants in terms of the chemical properties that,affect partitioning to various indoor surfaces, and subsequently their fate and transport in indoor environments. Based on chemical properties and indoor fate, I grouped the pollutants into five groups. I use an hierarchical k-means analysis based on octanol-air partitioning coefficient, octanol-water partitioning coefficient, air-water partitioning coefficient, and molecular weight. The pollutants in each group are expected to behave similarly in indoor environments. In Chapter 3, I evaluate the role of buildings operation parameters such as ventilation and filtration in limiting exposures to pollutants originating from indoor and outdoor sources. I use a simple well-mixed-air model of an indoor space to study the impact of ventilation on concentrations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and radon. I employ a chemical-thermodynamics-(fugacity)-based mass balance model in conjunction with a particle mass balance to study the fate and transport of particulate matter, VOCs, and SVOCs. The fugacity mass balance model accounts for chemical partitioning among air, air-borne particles, and indoor surfaces. I ran the fugacity model with indoor and outdoor source of VOCs and SVOCs and indoor and outdoor sources of particulate matter. I evaluate the consequent inhalation exposures these sources with two outcome metrics, intake fraction (iF) for indoor sources and indoor/outdoor concentration ratio for outdoor sources. The exposure to particulate matter of indoor and outdoor origin was evaluated using the outcome metrics iF and the indoor proportion of outdoor particles (iPOP). The model evaluation shows that ventilation is most effective at controlling exposures to VOCs that have an indoor source. Filtration is seen to be effective at controlling exposures to particulate matter and SVOCs that partition preferentially onto particulate matter. In Chapter 4, I explore the role of indoor air in delivering SVOCs to human occupants through passive dermal uptake. I collected wipe samples from thirteen subjects who were randomly chosen. For each subject, I collected three sequential wipe samples from the forehead and one sample from the palm. I analyzed the samples for a suite of SVOCs and skin lipids (squalene and sapienic acid) in an analytical laboratory using gas chromatography and liquid chromatography. All forehead wipe samples contained SVOCs indicating that air to skin transfer of pollutants for passive dermal uptake could be a significant exposure pathway for SVOCs. Because skin lipid concentrations decrease with depth the quantitation of skin lipid concentrations from each wipe allowed me to estimate the depth of sampling by each skin wipe. This is the first study to quantitatively evaluate the depth of sampling by skin wipes. I use the experimental results together with a theoretical model to explore the potential role of skin as a passive sampler for short-term personal exposures, indoors. For this I develop a metric called the equivalent time of exposure (ETE) to study the usefulness of sequential skin wipe samples as a passive sampler. I used partitioning coefficients from air to skin surface, combined with a dynamic skin mass transport model, to study the theoretical transport of pollutant through the stratum corneum. I compare the modeled concentrations to measured concentrations, at comparable depths. The ETE is the amount of time to which the subject would have to be exposed to a constant air concentration to attain the observed skin-wipe concentration depth profile in the stratum corneum. Based on the ETE, I find that skin wipe samples could be indicative of exposures up to 6 hours prior to wipe sampling, depending on the diffusion coefficient of the pollutant. The overarching goal of this research is to evaluate the role of indoor air in mediating the transfer to human receptors of pollutants released indoors or brought indoors from outdoor sources. The indoor air mass controls the fate and transport of pollutants in indoor spaces, and the rate of delivery of pollutants for inhalation and dermal uptake. The research highlights the important role of air-to-surface and air-to-particle partitioning in facilitating or mitigating source-receptor relationships. The work illustrates future research opportunities for tracking the complex web of indoor/outdoor pathways that bring pollutants into the human environment and into the blood and other viable tissues of the human population.

Organic Indoor Air Pollutants

Organic Indoor Air Pollutants PDF Author: Tunga Salthammer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 3527613676
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
Die Qualität der Innenraumluft hat in den letzten Jahren verstärkte Aufmerksamkeit erhalten. Das Buch behandelt einen der wichtigsten Einflußfaktoren, die organischen Schadstoffe in der Innenraumluft, deren Quellen, Messung sowie die Bewertung. Es wurde von einem chemisch-analytischen Standpunkt aus geschrieben. Dadurch füllt es eine Lücke in der Literatur zu diesem aktuellen Thema. Es geht in dem Buch sowohl um Gebäude und deren Einrichtung als auch um die Innenraumluft von Fahrzeugen. Das Buch enthält vier Teile, die die Messung von Schadstoffen, Testkammersysteme, die Freisetzung von Schadstoffen aus Materialien zur Innenraumeinrichtung sowie schließlich Untersuchungsstrategien und Qualitätsrichtlinien behandeln. Das Buch wurde von renommierten Experten aus Europa, den USA und Australien geschrieben und ist für Chemiker, Physiker, Biologen und Mediziner in Forschung und Praxis gedacht.

Handbook of Indoor Air Quality

Handbook of Indoor Air Quality PDF Author: Yinping Zhang
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811676801
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 2182

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Book Description
People live in indoor environment about 90% of lifetime and an adult inhales about 15 kg air each day, over 75% of the human body’s daily mass intake (air, food, water). Therefore, indoor air quality (IAQ) is very important to human health. This book provides the basic knowledge of IAQ and highlights the research achievements in the past two decades. It covers the following 12 sections: introduction, indoor air chemicals, indoor air particles, measurement and evaluation, source/sink characteristics, indoor chemistry, human exposure to indoor pollutants, health effects and health risk assessment, IAQ and cognitive performance, standards and guidelines, IAQ control, and air quality in various indoor environments. It provides a combination of an introduction to various aspects on IAQ studies, the current state-of-knowledge, various advances and the perspective of IAQ studies. It will be very helpful for the researchers and technicians in the IAQ and the related fields. It is also useful for experts in other fields and general readers who want to obtain a basic understanding of and research advances in the field of IAQ. A group of experts in IAQ research have been recruited to write the chapters. Their research interests and experience cover the scope of the book. In addition, some experienced experts in IAQ field have been invited as advisors or reviewers to give their comments, suggestions and revisions on the handbook framework and the chapter details. Their contribution guarantees the quality of the book. We are very grateful to them. Last but not least, we express our heartfelt thanks to Prof. Spengler, Harvard University, for writing the foreword of the current Handbook of Indoor Air Quality both as a pioneer scientist who contributed greatly to indoor air science and as an Editor-in-chief of Handbook of Indoor Air Quality 2001, 1st ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. In addition to hard copies, the book is also published online and will be updated by the authors as needed to keep it aligned with current knowledge. These salient features can make the handbook fresh with the research development.

Chemistry of the Upper and Lower Atmosphere

Chemistry of the Upper and Lower Atmosphere PDF Author: Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080529070
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 993

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Book Description
Here is the most comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of one of the hottest areas of chemical research. The treatment of fundamental kinetics and photochemistry will be highly useful to chemistry students and their instructors at the graduate level, as well as postdoctoral fellows entering this new, exciting, and well-funded field with a Ph.D. in a related discipline (e.g., analytical, organic, or physical chemistry, chemical physics, etc.). Chemistry of the Upper and Lower Atmosphere provides postgraduate researchers and teachers with a uniquely detailed, comprehensive, and authoritative resource. The text bridges the "gap" between the fundamental chemistry of the earth's atmosphere and "real world" examples of its application to the development of sound scientific risk assessments and associated risk management control strategies for both tropospheric and stratospheric pollutants. - Serves as a graduate textbook and "must have" reference for all atmospheric scientists - Provides more than 5000 references to the literature through the end of 1998 - Presents tables of new actinic flux data for the troposphere and stratospher (0-40km) - Summarizes kinetic and photochemical date for the troposphere and stratosphere - Features problems at the end of most chapters to enhance the book's use in teaching - Includes applications of the OZIPR box model with comprehensive chemistry for student use

Environmental Health Perspectives

Environmental Health Perspectives PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Environmental health
Languages : en
Pages : 1024

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Development of Novel Instrumentation and Methods to Investigate the Composition and Phase Partitioning of Semivolatile and Intermediately Volatile Organic Compounds in Atmospheric Organic Aerosol

Development of Novel Instrumentation and Methods to Investigate the Composition and Phase Partitioning of Semivolatile and Intermediately Volatile Organic Compounds in Atmospheric Organic Aerosol PDF Author: Claire Francis Fortenberry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is ubiquitous in both indoor and outdoor air and is generally detrimental to human health. PM composed of particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 um (PM2.5) are related to adverse health outcomes including heart disease and respiratory disease. Fundamentally, particle physical properties such as size and hygroscopicity are dictated by chemical composition, which can be highly complex, particularly for organic aerosol (OA). In both outdoor and indoor air, OA is composed substantially of intermediately volatile and semivolatile organic compounds (I/SVOCs), which exist in both gas and particle phases under typical atmospheric conditions. The distribution of these compounds between the two phases can change rapidly depending on conditions like temperature, relative humidity, and concentrations of surrounding particles and gases. The chemical complexity and rapidly-changing dynamics of I/SVOCs in OA necessitates improved instrumentation to speciate complex mixtures of I/SVOCs in both gas and particle phases at fast time scales relative to phase partitioning dynamics.The Thermal desorption Aerosol Gas Chromatograph (TAG), which performs in-situ ambient collection and molecular-level speciation of organics at hourly time resolution, is uniquely suited to meet these challenges. The TAG system has been modified in various ways to collect and analyze different targeted molecules in both the gas and particle phases. In addition to speciated organics, the impactor-based collection and thermal desorption (ICTD) system developed for the original TAG features unique thermal decomposition data, which provides information on thermally labile organic and inorganic fragments. These data have been used in laboratory and field studies to evaluate different species not normally analyzable by gas chromatography. However, the ICTD cell is not suitable for gas-phase quantification.This dissertation addresses two major research themes: laboratory and field measurements to improve understanding of I/SVOCs in indoor and outdoor air, and development of improved I/SVOC measurement techniques. Within the first theme, atmospheric aging of I/SVOCs from biomass burning plumes was characterized in controlled laboratory studies with an oxidation flow reactor using molecular speciation and thermal decomposition data from the ICTD-TAG. I/SVOCs in indoor air were investigated under different natural ventilation (window opening) conditions using the ICTD-TAG in two field studies, and phase partitioning dynamics of indoor-measured I/SVOCs were examined in targeted experiments conducted in the field. Within the second theme, a denuder-based gas trap (GT) was developed and incorporated in parallel into the ICTD-TAG. Following initial GT testing in field studies, the design was modified and characterized through standard calibrations. Simple laboratory studies demonstrate that the GT-ICTD-TAG effectively measures changes in particle-phase fractions.

Indoor Air Pollution

Indoor Air Pollution PDF Author: Peter Pluschke
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9783540210986
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Indoor Air Pollution has become a major topic in environmental research and health. Most people spend more than 80% of their time in buildings and are exposed to a broad range of pollutants from indoor sources such as building materials, furniture, carpets and textiles, heating and cooking, household and consumer products, etc. The volume provides a comprehensive review of the major indoor air pollutants: volatile organic compounds, biocides, indoor particles and fibres, combustion products and micro-organisms and their metabolites. Sources and sinks of air pollutants in indoor environments and their chemistry are distinctly different from ambient air pollution, even though the latter may influence indoor air quality. Adsorption and desorption processes, the pollutant source dynamics, gas phase reactions and kinetics - including the fate and final chemical destiny of chemically unstable intermediate compounds - are topics of scientific research as well as the evaluation of their sensory impact and irritation potential. Guidelines for assessing indoor pollution and a broad range of analytical methods have been recently developed and are reviewed by internationally renowned scientists. The specific characteristics of indoor air pollution in developing countries due to the widespread use of open fires for cooking, heating and lighting are analysed as well as the Chinese strategies to address the growing pollution problems by air pollution in its modern building stock.

Indoor Environment

Indoor Environment PDF Author: Lidia Morawska
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 3527609202
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
Covering the fundamentals of air-borne particles and settled dust in the indoor environment, this handy reference investigates: * relevant definitions and terminology, * characteristics, * sources, * sampling techniques and instrumentation, * exposure assessment, * monitoring methods. The result is a useful and comprehensive overview for chemists, physicists and biologists, postgraduate students, medical practitioners, occupational health professionals, building owners and managers, building, construction and air-conditioning engineers, architects, environmental lawyers, government and regulatory professionals.