Distributions of Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollutants in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:  Implications to Indoor Air Quality in Bayside Offices

Abstract

An indoor air quality survey was conducted on selected floors in an office building in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The sampling sites comprised four offices located along the same vertical column of the building. Measurements were made on alternate days at the same time of day during working hours. Indoor and outdoor samples were collected for volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde, total suspended particles (TSP), nicotine, and ultraviolet respirable suspended particles (UV-RSP). Compared with formaldehyde, acetaldehyde was found in higher concentrations outdoors because of the use of ethanol or ethanol/gasoline blends as alternative fuels for automobiles in Brazil. The TVOC concentration ranged from 304.3 to 1679.9 μg/m3 indoors and 22 to 643.2 μg/m3 outdoors. The indoor level of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) was especially high in the 13th floor office. A minor contribution from environmental tobacco smoke was found. TSP values exceed the Brazilian Legislation (80 μg/m3) in both outdoor and indoor air in the office located near the street traffic. For all pollutants evaluated I/O ratios appeared to be higher in offices located on the top of the building. The characterization of indoor air pollutants allowed the suggestion of several remediation measures to improve air quality in the offices.

Compostos carbonílicos atmosféricos: fontes, reatividade, níveis de concentração e efeitos toxicológicos

“…Os níveis de concentração de aldeídos em ambientes internos são, na maioria das vezes, maiores quando comparados com ambientes externos 1,69,75 . Por exemplo, os resultados obtidos por Brickus e colaboradores 75 , para um edifício de escritório no Rio de Janeiro, apresentaram uma razão média de concentração interna/externa de 2,6 para formaldeído e, 1,3 para acetaldeído.…”

“…Por exemplo, os resultados obtidos por Brickus e colaboradores 75 , para um edifício de escritório no Rio de Janeiro, apresentaram uma razão média de concentração interna/externa de 2,6 para formaldeído e, 1,3 para acetaldeído. …”

Formaldehído en Viviendas Urbanas en Salvador, Bahía - Brasil

“…Después de ajustar por el efecto de otras fuentes de formaldehído y de la ventilación, la asociación entre el humo del cigarro y la concentración de formaldehído se mantuvo. Estudios nacionales han reportado mayores concentraciones de formaldehído (105 µg/m 3 ) en locales sin fumadores (Pires y Carvalho 1999) y no han mostrado una correlación significativa entre la concentración de nicotina (derivada del humo del cigarro) y la concentración de formaldehído (Brickus et al 1998).…”

Indoor Air Pollutants and the Impact on Human Health

“…Emissions of a number of hydrocarbons and aldehydes and ketones have been observed during operation of dryprocess copiers; these include significant emissions of ethylbenzene, o-, m-, and p-xylenes, styrene, 2-ethyl-l-hexanol, acetone, nnonanal, and benzaldehyde (Leovic et al, 1996). Enhanced levels of acetaldehyde in an office building in Brazil were attributed to the oxidation of ethanol used as a cleaning agent (Brickus et al, 1998), although levels outdoors were also enhanced due to the use of ethanol as a fuel. Pyrocatechol has been measured in an occupational environment where meteorological charts are mapped on paper impregnated with this compound (Ekinja et al, 1995), and p-dichlorobenzene is observed when mothballs containing this compound are in use (e.g., Tichenor et al, 1990;Chang and Krebs, 1992).…”