Improving the Indoor Air Quality in Nursery Buildings in United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Children inhale indoor air at 400 mL/min∙kg per body weight, 2.76 times more than adults. They have weaker immunity than adults and are more exposed to asthma, allergies, and atopic diseases. The objective of this paper is to suggest effective management and improvement measures for indoor air quality for nurseries. As a methodology, 16 nurseries (total of 35 classrooms) were selected to measure the indoor air quality compared with WHO IAQ Standard, and identify the daily concentration change of the pollutants. Based on the measurements, IAQ improvements for selected facilities are carried out to compare the results before and after improvement. The result has shown that the concentration of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC), Total Suspended Particles (TSP) and formaldehyde (CH2O) exceeds WHO IAQ standards. The concentration of CO2 and TSP is changed mainly by physical activity of children and that of CH2O and TVOC is changed mainly by ventilation after school start. TVOC decreased by 46.4% and the TSP decreased by 21.7% after air purifier, but CH2O and TVOC increased 1.8–3.8 times after interior renovation with low-emission finishing materials. After new ventilation installation, the CH2O and TVOC reduced half and the TSP reduced one third. It is proven that the most effective way to reduce the concentration of air pollutants in nurseries is the installation of a new ventilation system, followed by an air purifier. The renovation with low-emission finishing materials cannot improve IAQ in a short period of time.

Indoor air quality in day-care centres: a global review

“… Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVACs) should be serviced and inspected regularly to avoid the accumulation of indoor pollutants (Canha et al 2016 ; Chen et al 2020 ; Lucattini et al 2018 ) Frequent cleaning of classrooms using microfiber mops and a vacuum with a clean high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter (Rosário Filho et al 2021 ; Zainudin et al 2019 ). Low-emission materials should be used rather than general building finishing materials in childcare facilities (Arar and Jung 2021 ). Educating preschool administrators about indoor air quality management (Sadrizadeh et al 2022 ).…”

“…Low-emission materials should be used rather than general building finishing materials in childcare facilities (Arar and Jung 2021 ).…”

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“…An environment with poor indoor air quality deteriorates the health of the occupants (Jung and Al Qassimi, 2022). Formaldehyde (HCHO) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) such as Benzene (C 6 H 6 ), Toluene (C 7 H 8 ), Ethylbenzene (C 8 H 10 ), Xylene (C 8 H 10 ), and Styrene (C 8 H 8 ) are representative indoor air pollutants (Arar and Jung, 2021).…”