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Pollutants
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Pollutants in Indoor Air
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Pollutants in Indoor Air

A special issue of Pollutants (ISSN 2673-4672).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 11268

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tanvir Khan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
FSEC Energy Research Center, a research Institute of the University of Central Florida, Cocoa, FL 32922, USA
Interests: Indoor air quality; Building science; Air quality modeling; Pollutant deposition
Dr. Md. Aynul Bari

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY), Albany, NY 12222, USA
Interests: ambient air quality monitoring and characterization; indoor and outdoor behavior of air pollutants; particulate air pollution; source characterization and apportionment; sustainable air pollution management; atmospheric deposition of air pollutants; environmental impact assessment; influence of energy development on air quality; residential wood burning; low-cost air pollution sensors; air pollution exposure and public health risk assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue entitled “Pollutants in Indoor Air” aims to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive view of emerging and current knowledge of pollutants in various indoor environments, including, homes, schools, offices, hospitals, subway stations, in-vehicle, etc. All types of indoor air pollution issues will be considered: from source characterization to source control and mitigation. Research articles that invoke a multidisciplinary paradigm to address critical issues on human health and indoor environment are especially welcomed. In particular topics on the intersection between energy efficiency, high-performance building, new building technologies, and indoor air quality (IAQ); improving IAQ using new construction materials in real buildings; field-based evaluation of pollutant emissions in buildings under various operating conditions; indoor thermal environment, occupants’ health, and IAQ; monitoring IAQ using cyber-physical systems and mobile computing technologies; applications of Internet of Things (IoT) in IAQ monitoring systems; data-driven approach for indoor environment monitoring; long-term stability and cross-sensitivity of the low-cost sensors; indoor chemistry; and modeling of pollutant dispersion and deposition in indoor environments are strongly encouraged for submissions. The target audience includes the researchers, educators, home builders, energy professionals, product manufacturers, utilities, federal, state, and local governments, and concerned citizens devoted to improve overall indoor environmental quality. We would like to encourage you to submit to this Special Issue your original research papers, short communication of preliminary results, review articles, or commentaries to stimulate the discussion.

Dr. Tanvir Khan
Prof. Dr. Md. Aynul Bari
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pollutants is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Indoor Pollution
  • IAQ
  • High-performance Building
  • Low-cost Sensors
  • Emerging Pollutants
  • Pollutant Emissions
  • Indoor Deposition
  • Dispersion Modeling
  • New Materials
  • Internet-of-Things

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 12332 KiB  
Article
Indoor CO2 and Thermal Conditions in Twenty Scottish Primary School Classrooms with Different Ventilation Systems during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Natalie Bain-Reguis, Andrew Smith, Caroline Hollins Martin and John Currie
Pollutants 2022, 2(2), 180-204; https://doi.org/10.3390/pollutants2020014 - 3 May 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3280
Abstract
Healthy indoor environments influence the comfort, health and wellbeing of the occupants. Monitoring the indoor temperature, relative humidity and CO2 levels in primary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic was mandated by a local authority in Scotland. The aim was to investigate the [...] Read more.
Healthy indoor environments influence the comfort, health and wellbeing of the occupants. Monitoring the indoor temperature, relative humidity and CO2 levels in primary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic was mandated by a local authority in Scotland. The aim was to investigate the comfort and safety of the teachers and their pupils. This paper presents the measurements of indoor climate in 20 classrooms in four different primary schools in Scotland. The schools were of different architypes. The classrooms were of different sizes, orientations and occupancy, and had different ventilation systems. Ventilation was achieved either by manually opening the windows, or by a mechanical ventilation system. Indoor air temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were continuously monitored for one week during the heating season 2020/21. Occupancy and opening of the windows were logged in by the teachers. The ventilation rates in the classrooms were estimated by measuring the CO2 concentrations. On the 20 classrooms of the study, data of 19 were analysed. The results show that four of the five mechanically ventilated classrooms performed better than natural ventilation, which indicates that opening the windows depended on the customs and habits. Classrooms in naturally ventilated Victorian buildings have the worst average ventilation rate (4.38 L/s per person) compared to the other classrooms (5.8 L/s per person for the more recent naturally ventilated ones, and 6.08 L/s per person for the mechanically ventilated ones). The results of this preliminary study will be used as the basis to find ways to ensure adequate ventilation in natural ventilated classrooms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutants in Indoor Air)
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37 pages, 10708 KiB  
Article
Experimental Evaluations of the Impact of an Additive Oxidizing Electronic Air Cleaner on Particles and Gases
by Yicheng Zeng, Aurélie Laguerre, Elliott T. Gall, Mohammad Heidarinejad and Brent Stephens
Pollutants 2022, 2(2), 98-134; https://doi.org/10.3390/pollutants2020010 - 6 Apr 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3252
Abstract
Electronic air cleaning (EAC) technologies have garnered significant attention for use in buildings. Many EAC technologies rely on the addition of reactive constituents to indoor air to react with gas-phase compounds, enhance particle deposition, and/or inactivate microorganisms. However, limited data are available on [...] Read more.
Electronic air cleaning (EAC) technologies have garnered significant attention for use in buildings. Many EAC technologies rely on the addition of reactive constituents to indoor air to react with gas-phase compounds, enhance particle deposition, and/or inactivate microorganisms. However, limited data are available on the efficacy of many EAC technologies and their potential to form chemical byproducts during operation. Here we experimentally evaluate the indoor air quality impacts, specifically targeting particles and gases but not microbial constituents, of a commercially available additive oxidizing EAC that generates positive and negative ions and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Tests were conducted in a large unoccupied test chamber in Chicago, IL and an unoccupied laboratory in Portland, OR under a combination of natural conditions (i.e., without pollutant injection) and perturbation conditions (i.e., with pollutant injection and decay). A combination of integrated and time-resolved measurements was used across both test locations. Chamber tests at lower airflow rates demonstrated that operation of the EAC: (i) had no discernible impact on particle concentrations or particle loss rates, with estimated clean air delivery rates (CADRs) for various particle measures less than ±10 m3/h, (ii) was associated with apparent decreases in some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and increases in other VOCs and aldehydes, especially acetaldehyde, although a combination of high propagated uncertainty, limitations in test methods (e.g., lack of replicates), and variability between repeated tests limit what quantitative conclusions can be drawn regarding gas-phase organics; (iii) did generate H2O2, assessed using a crude measure, and (iv) did not generate ozone (O3). Laboratory tests at higher airflow rates, which involved injection and decay of particles and a single VOC (limonene), both simultaneously and separately, demonstrated that: (i) pollutant loss rates for both particles and limonene were slightly lower with the EAC on compared to off, yielding slightly negative pollutant removal efficiencies (albeit largely within propagated uncertainty) and (ii) there was a change in observed concentrations of one potential limonene degradation product, m/z 59 (putatively identified as acetone), with steady-state levels increasing from 10 ppb (air cleaner off) to 15 ppb (air cleaner on). No increases or decreases beyond measurement uncertainty were observed for other analyzed gaseous limonene degradation products. Overall, both chamber and laboratory tests demonstrated negligible effectiveness of this device at the test conditions described herein for removing particles and mixed results for VOCs, including decreases in some VOCs, no discernible differences in other VOCs, and apparent increases in other compounds, especially lower molecular weight aldehydes including acetaldehyde. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutants in Indoor Air)
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13 pages, 1409 KiB  
Article
Inhalation Exposure to PCB from Contaminated Indoor Air—How Much Is Absorbed into the Blood?
by Martin Kraft, Knut Rauchfuss, Hermann Fromme, Lothar Grün, Silvia Sievering, Barbara Köllner and Yvonni Chovolou
Pollutants 2021, 1(3), 181-193; https://doi.org/10.3390/pollutants1030015 - 1 Sep 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3626
Abstract
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in many construction products until their banning in the 1970s and 1980s. Nonetheless, exposure to PCBs from contaminated indoor air is still an important public health issue. The aim of our study was to estimate the contribution of [...] Read more.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in many construction products until their banning in the 1970s and 1980s. Nonetheless, exposure to PCBs from contaminated indoor air is still an important public health issue. The aim of our study was to estimate the contribution of PCB congeners in indoor air to the levels of PCBs in human blood. We analyzed all 209 PCB congeners in the blood of 35 individuals exposed to PCBs from contaminated indoor air. For each individual, we measured the six marker indicators PCB28, PCB52, PCB101, PCB138, PCB153 and PCB180 in indoor air at the workplace. Statistically significant correlations between PCB-contaminated indoor air and the existence of the sum of mono-, di-, tri-, tetra- and pentachlorinated biphenyls (∑PCB1–127) in the blood of the exposed individuals were found. We quantified the proportions of PCBs that are absorbed into the blood via inhalation of contaminated indoor air. Inhalation of PCBs from contaminated indoor air, especially in children, adolescents and younger adults, may lead to PCB blood burdens that are higher than general PCB background levels or in approximately the same range. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutants in Indoor Air)
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