Indoor and outdoor air concentrations of volatile organic compounds and NO2 in schools of urban, industrial and rural areas in Central-Southern Spain

Villanueva, Florentina; Tapia, Araceli; Lara, Sonia; Amo-Salas, Mariano

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.274

Cited by 87 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Important source of indoor pollution that has to be considered in the design process is outdoor pollution in relation to location sources. Higher concentrations of benzene and NO 2 were quantified in 18 schools and kindergartens in Central-Southern Spain located in industrial as well as in rural areas [12]. Additionally, the location of heavy traffic areas were associated with increased exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, detected in indoor air of 27 kindergartens of Sabzevar city, Iran [13].…”

Section: Deteriorated Indoor Environmental Quality As a Collateral Damentioning

confidence: 96%

Deteriorated Indoor Environmental Quality as a Collateral Damage of Present Day Extensive Renovations

Dovjak¹,

Slobodnik²,

Krainer³

2018

SV-JME

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Optimal indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is especially important in every living and working environment with present vulnerable population groups. Especially problematic are educational institutions, where prolonged exposure time of users additionally increases health risks. The present study is focused on the problem of deteriorated IEQ in renovated kindergarten. The problem was critically assessed from the aspects of indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy use. A combination of simulations of the selected IAQ parameters and building energy use was performed for five sets of scenarios, where required and recommended design ventilation rates variated according to Slovenian legislation. Characteristics of actual kindergarten in central Slovenia, renovated in 2016, were used for simulations. Concentrations of CO 2 and formaldehyde were calculated in two model playrooms with CONTAM 3.2, whereas building energy use was calculated for two thermal zones of playrooms with Energy Plus 8.0.0. If ventilation in playrooms was designed according to the minimal permissible value (air changes per hour) ACH 0.5, CO 2 concentrations exceeded the national maximum permissible level by 2.5 and 3 times, and formaldehyde concentrations was close to the value recommended by World Health Organisation (WHO) and exceeded the level recommended by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH-CDC) by 4.6 and 4.5 times. All required and recommended design ventilation rates resulted in exceeded values of CO 2 above recommendation for category I of IAQ, except the design ventilation rate 55 m 3 /h per person. In-line with public health protection measures, relevant information is an aid for recommendation definitions for policies and strategies towards healthier indoor environments as well as for raising awareness about current design practice.

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Section: Deteriorated Indoor Environmental Quality As a Collateral Damentioning

confidence: 96%

Deteriorated Indoor Environmental Quality as a Collateral Damage of Present Day Extensive Renovations

Dovjak¹,

Slobodnik²,

Krainer³

2018

SV-JME

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“…In the south-central part of Spain sampling was conducted in kindergartens located in rural, urban and industrial regions and the concentrations of benzene were, 0.3 ± 0.1 μg/m 3 , 0.5 ± 0.1 μg/m 3 , 0.9 ± 0.6 μg/m 3 , respectively, during February to April 2013. 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).…”

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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“…Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including air and water pollutants, are widely considered as some of the most important components of man-made pollution in modern industrial society. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Even though the utilization and emission of VOCs have caused great risks to the environment and human health, VOCs are still extensively employed, especially in the petroleum, chemical, medical and other industrial elds, as irreplaceable raw materials and inevitable by-products. 8 Aromatic compounds, including benzene, toluene, chlorobenzene and so on, are a series of the most commonly encountered VOCs, which are seriously toxic and carcinogenic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effective removal of aromatic pollutants via adsorption and photocatalysis of porous organic frameworks

Wang

et al. 2020

RSC Adv.

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Indoor and outdoor air concentrations of volatile organic compounds and NO2 in schools of urban, industrial and rural areas in Central-Southern Spain

Cited by 87 publications

References 49 publications

Deteriorated Indoor Environmental Quality as a Collateral Damage of Present Day Extensive Renovations

Deteriorated Indoor Environmental Quality as a Collateral Damage of Present Day Extensive Renovations

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

Effective removal of aromatic pollutants via adsorption and photocatalysis of porous organic frameworks

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