Infiltration of fine particles in urban daycares.
Indoor Air
; 30(5): 955-965, 2020 09.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32304116
ABSTRACT
Singapore is a tropical country with a high density of day-care facilities whose indoor environments may be adversely affected by outdoor fine particle (PM2.5 ) air pollution. To reduce this problem requires effective, evidence-based exposure-reduction strategies. Little information is available on the penetration of outdoor PM2.5 into day-care environments. Our study attempted to address the following objectives:
to measure indoor infiltration factor (Finf ) of PM2.5 from outdoor PM2.5 and to determine the building parameters that modify the indoor PM2.5 . We collected indoor/outdoor 1-min PM2.5 from 50 day-care classrooms. We noted mean Finf ± SD of 0.65 ± 0.22 in day-care rooms which are naturally ventilated and lower Finf ± SD values of 0.47 ± 0.18 for those that are air-conditioned values which are lower than those reported in Singapore residences. The air exchange rates were higher in naturally ventilated rooms (1.47 vs 0.86 h-1 ). However, fine particle deposition rates were lower for naturally ventilated rooms (0.67 ± 0.43 h-1 ) compared with air-conditioned ones (1.03 ± 0.55 h-1 ) presumably due to composite rates linked to the filters within the split unit air-conditioners, higher recirculation rates, and interior surfaces in the latter. Our findings indicate that children remaining indoor in daycares where air-conditioning is used can reduce their PM2.5 exposures during outdoor pollution episodes.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Child Day Care Centers
/
Air Pollution, Indoor
/
Particulate Matter
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Indoor Air
Journal subject:
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Singapur
Country of publication:
ENGLAND
/
ESCOCIA
/
GB
/
GREAT BRITAIN
/
INGLATERRA
/
REINO UNIDO
/
SCOTLAND
/
UK
/
UNITED KINGDOM