No abstract

Interest in having a healthy and well-being environment has increased the awareness to improve indoor air quality (IAQ). Building materials influence the contribution of indoor air pollution, so understanding their behaviour on IAQ is essential. Among building materials, carpets cover surfaces of indoor environments and significantly impact IAQ due to their large surface area and multi-layers of materials components. This review aimed to consolidate what is known about how carpet impacts indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentrations and particulate matter (PM) distributions. The results showed that carpets are not only a source of primary emission but also can ad/absorb VOCs and emit VOCs through secondary emission, sink effects, and transformation reactions. The material composition of each carpet layer, environmental parameters (e.g., humidity, temperature, air velocity), and chamber size influence a carpets’ behaviour. Previous studies on the resuspension of PM from carpets mainly focused on the effects of human activities and humidity. Further studies are needed to enhance knowledge related to carpet behaviours in the indoor environment and on how the common materials of carpets should be designed and sustained to reduce exposure to harmful pollutants indoors while maintaining its benefits.

The goal of this paper was to study some chemical and physical effects of chitosan nano-hydrogels containing Rhus coriaria on cotton fabric. The finished fabrics showed antimicrobial effects against two pathogenic microorganisms, namely  Staphylococcus aureus and  Escherichia coli, and the particle size, as well as the effect of encapsulating sumac extract in chitosan nano-hydrogel on some physical and visual characteristics of fabrics, are then confirmed by using various methods, including antimicrobial testing, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The encapsulation efficiency and release behavior of the samples are also studied. The as-prepared samples with higher sumac content have more ultraviolet (UV) absorbing activity (about 52%) than the un-treated sample, as well as excellent washing fastness and antimicrobial properties after five washing cycles. More specifically, these methods indicated negligible changes in color and thickness of treated cotton fabrics. Finally, the application of cotton fabric along with the synthesis of chitosan nano-hydrogel and sumac loading introduced a novel cotton fabric with high antimicrobial properties, washing fastness and UV protection property.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) plays an important role in human health and well-being as people spend most of their time indoors. Among building materials, carpets covering high surface areas and having dense fibres have the potential to impact perceived IAQ. To explore the impact of carpets on perceived IAQ, it was studied whether low-emitting wool carpets can ‘clean’ the air. To assess the sorption effect of emissions of hardboard (as a permanent source) on carpet, untrained subjects were asked to assess a combination of low-odour emitting carpet and hardboard in one sample container and only hardboard in another sample container of test chamber. The results showed a slight (although not statistically relevant) difference in favour of the combination, indicating a slight adsorption effect.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important aspect of maintaining human health and well-being, particularly since people spend most of their time indoors. Carpets, with their large surface area and dense fibre piles, have the potential to significantly impact IAQ by emitting and absorbing volatile organic compounds (VOC) from building materials and human activities. The cleaning effect of wool carpets regarding the sorption of odours from two sources of pollution: hardboard and sweaty underwear (as a proxy for bio-effluents), was investigated with an untrained panel of subjects assessing the odour intensity and the acceptability. Tests were performed in three different test environments, including a sniffing table, CLIMPAQs, and full-scale test chambers. The outcome showed that wool carpets can potentially clean the air of odours in small-scale environments, where the wool carpet covers the floor and walls of the test environment, and the odour sources are in contact with the wool carpet. However, the results were less conclusive in on scale scenarios where wool carpets only covered the floor. Overall, wool carpets have the potential to ad(b)sorb odorous emissions, but only when these emissions are near the wool carpet, and thus can have the opportunity to be ad(b)sorbed.