Indoor Air Quality Assessment and Study of Different VOC Contributions within a School in Taranto City, South of Italy

Marzocca, Annalisa; Gilio, Alessia Di; Farella, Genoveffa; Giua, Roberto; Gennaro, Gianluigi de

doi:10.3390/environments4010023

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Besides CO 2 pollutants, exposure to volatile organic compound has been a concern of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) in the schools and other buildings. VOC in the school environment shows lower level in a large room and good ventilation classroom with low occupancy ratio (Marzocca et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Indoor Air Pollution (Carbon Dioxide and Total Volatile Organic Compound) and Pulmonary Disorders in Junior High School Students in Depok, West Java

Wispriyono¹,

Yulaeva²,

Hartono³

et al. 2019

GJHS

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Good indoor air quality in the school environment is crucial for health and productivity of the students. Indoor air pollution needs to be taken into consideration, given that one can spend 90% of their time indoor. CO2 and Total VOC is an indoor pollutant that causes pulmonary disorder. This research is to investigate the relationship between exposure of CO2, concentration, total VOC and pulmonary disorder in Junior High School students. This research used cross-sectional design conducted on March - May 2018. The samples were 139 students taken by using simple random sampling. CO2 value was measured by Q-trak, Total VOC was measured by ppbRAE and the lung function value was spirometry. Indoor CO2 concentration in Junior High School of  Depok is 478.70 ppm, the average total concentration VOC is 6.4 x 10-3 ppm, % KVP = 72.66, % VEP1 = 74.52 and % VEP1/KVP = 93.97 in average, and the proportion of students with pulmonary disorder is 3.6%. There is no relationship found between exposure of indoor CO2 concentration and total VOC with lung disorder VEP1/KVP (CO2, p = 1.000 and total VOC p = 0.374) since the number of students with lung disorder is low in number while CO2 concentration and the total VOC level is below the listed threshold. This study found no evidence that exposure was related to pulmonary disorder. A healthy and clean living behavior in school environment needs to be improved and further research on other indoor air pollutant parameters and respiratory disorders or degenerative disease should be conducted with different methods.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Indoor Air Pollution (Carbon Dioxide and Total Volatile Organic Compound) and Pulmonary Disorders in Junior High School Students in Depok, West Java

Wispriyono¹,

Yulaeva²,

Hartono³

et al. 2019

GJHS

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“…It was concluded that the higher concentration of benzene in the kindergarten located in the industrial region is due to the contribution from the petrochemical plant (Villanueva et al., 2018). In naturally ventilated school buildings at Taranto City, South of Italy, three classrooms were selected for benzene monitoring and the average concentration found in all the three were 0.44 μg/m 3 which was less than the outdoor ambient benzene levels (0.67 μg/m 3 ) (Marzocca et al., 2017). In Czech technical university in Prague, the average level of benzene in indoor air was 1.6–4.9 μg/m 3 during June 2012 (Kolarik et al., 2015).…”

Section: Indoor Benzene Concentrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of benzene air quality standards, monitoring methods and concentrations in indoor and outdoor environment

Sekar

Varghese

Varma

2019

Heliyon

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Benzene is a proven carcinogen. Its synergistic action with other pollutants can damage different components of the biosphere. Literature comparing the air quality standards of benzene, its monitoring methods and global concentrations are sparse. This study compiles the worldwide available air quality standards for benzene and highlights the importance of strict and uniform standards all over the world. It was found that out of the 193 United Nation member states, only 53 countries, including the European Union member states, have ambient air quality standard for benzene. Even where standards were available, in most cases, they were not protective of public health. An extensive literature review was conducted to compile the available monitoring and analysis methods for benzene, and found that the most preferred method, i.e, analyzing by Gas Chromatography and Mass spectroscopy is not cost effective and not suitable for real-time continuous monitoring. The study compared the concentrations of benzene in the indoor and outdoor air reported from different countries. Though the higher concentrations of benzene noticed in the survey were mostly from Asian countries, both in the case of indoor and outdoor air, the concentrations were not statistically different across the various continents. Based on the analyzed data, the average benzene level in the ambient air of Asian countries (371 μg/m3) was approximately 3.5 times higher than the indoor benzene levels (111 μg/m3). Similarly, the outdoor to the indoor ratio of benzene level in European and North American Countries were found to be 1.2 and 7.7, respectively. This compilation will help the policymakers to include/revise the standards for benzene in future air quality guideline amendments.

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“…Household users are exposed to several pollutants. There are numerous source of pollution produced by the occupants and their activities, by the furniture and building materials, by technical defects, the presence of humidity or dirt, and, in particular, the use of chemicals (cleaning, hygiene, and personal care products) as well as tobacco smoke in smokers’ homes [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Pollution from outside such as pollen, dust, and industrial and traffic pollution must also be considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bad Air Can Also Kill: Residential Indoor Air Quality and Pollutant Exposure Risk during the COVID-19 Crisis

Domínguez-Amarillo

Fernández-Agüera

Cesteros-García

et al. 2020

IJERPH

111

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During the first outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic the population, focusing primarily on the risk of infection, was generally inattentive to the quality of indoor air. Spain, and the city of Madrid in particular, were among the world’s coronavirus hotspots. The country’s entire population was subject to a 24/7 lockdown for 45 days. This paper describes a comparative longitudinal survey of air quality in four types of housing in the city of Madrid before and during lockdown. The paper analysed indoor temperatures and variations in CO2, 2.5 μm particulate matter (PM2.5) and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) concentrations before and during lockdown. The mean daily outdoor PM2.5 concentration declined from 11.04 µg/m3 before to 7.10 µg/m3 during lockdown. Before lockdown the NO2 concentration values scored as ‘very good’ 46% of the time, compared to 90.9% during that period. Although the city’s outdoor air quality improved, during lockdown the population’s exposure to indoor pollutants was generally more acute and prolonged. Due primarily to concern over domestic energy savings, the lack of suitable ventilation and more intensive use of cleaning products and disinfectants during the covid-19 crisis, indoor pollutant levels were typically higher than compatible with healthy environments. Mean daily PM2.5 concentration rose by approximately 12% and mean TVOC concentration by 37% to 559%. The paper also puts forward a series of recommendations to improve indoor domestic environments in future pandemics and spells out urgent action to be taken around indoor air quality (IAQ) in the event of total or partial quarantining to protect residents from respiratory ailments and concomitantly enhanced susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, as identified by international medical research.

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Indoor Air Quality Assessment and Study of Different VOC Contributions within a School in Taranto City, South of Italy

Cited by 16 publications

References 26 publications

Indoor Air Pollution (Carbon Dioxide and Total Volatile Organic Compound) and Pulmonary Disorders in Junior High School Students in Depok, West Java

Indoor Air Pollution (Carbon Dioxide and Total Volatile Organic Compound) and Pulmonary Disorders in Junior High School Students in Depok, West Java

Analysis of benzene air quality standards, monitoring methods and concentrations in indoor and outdoor environment

Bad Air Can Also Kill: Residential Indoor Air Quality and Pollutant Exposure Risk during the COVID-19 Crisis

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