Indoor VOCs from Religious and Ritual Burning Practices in India

Abstract

Measurements of selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs), known as markers of emissions resulting from burning practices using natural-and synthetic biomaterials, have been carried out in major religious/ritual-indoors in India. Four different religious/ritual-indoors were selected for monitoring purposes: 1) Hindu Marriage Places (MP), 2) Muslim Holy Shrines (MG), 3) Buddhist Temples (BT), and 4) Hindu Temples (HT). One pure residential-indoor (RESID) site was also examined for comparison studies. Indoor VOCs sampling was carried out throughout the three seasons of summer, fall and winter of the calendar year of 2012-2013 in Raipur, India. VOCs samples, collected by passive sampling over a 48-h period, were analyzed using thermal desorption (TD), followed by high-resolution gas chromatographic separation and mass spectrometric detection (GC/MS). A total of 14 volatile organic compounds (n-hexane, cyclohexane, n-heptane, noctane, n-nonane, n-decane, n-undecane, styrene, o-xylene, m,p-xylene, 1,2,4-trimethyl benzene, ethylbenzene, benzene, and toluene.) were quantified. The annual mean concentrations for total VOCs (TVOCs) were 216. 61 ± 75.15, 656.34 ± 220.82, 681.75 ± 219.83, 129.51 ± 45.24 and 82.67 ± 40.96 µg/m 3 for MP, MG, BT, HT and RESID respectively. The results were found to be higher than the prescribed standards and earlier reported indoor VOCs levels. Indoor/outdoor ratios (I/O), correlation analyses, seasonal variations and indoor/outdoor contributions to the measured levels are also investigated.

Study of carbonaceous fractions associated with indoor PM2.5/PM10 during Asian cultural and ritual burning practices

“…Stratified random sampling plan using longitudinal study design [39] has been adopted for Details of sampling sites, types and amount of biomaterial used for burning practices, average daily visitor's statistics, along with associated average exposure durations to respective ritual/cultural-indoors have been determined using a questionnaire survey and described in Table S1 along with earlier publication associated to address emission factors of volatile organic compounds from burning practices of these ritual/cultural-indoors [43].…”

A Pilot Study to Quantify Volatile Organic Compounds and Their Sources Inside and Outside Homes in Urban India in Summer and Winter during Normal Daily Activities

“…To date, studies of VOCs in India have tended to focus on specific sources (e.g., petrol stations, petroleum refineries, vehicle, or evaporative emissions) [26][27][28][29][30]. A few studies have sought to characterize pollutants in indoor environments, but have targeted these efforts to kitchens [31][32][33][34], university campuses (e.g., in libraries, dormitories, campus shops) [35,36], or public spaces (e.g., restaurants, shops, shrines, temples) [37], or in other non-residential locations (i.e., a laboratory, a recently renovated central hall in a library, and a room with no apparent sources of VOCs) [34] or have characterized pollutants generated during specific events (e.g., ceremonies) [38,39]. A gap remains in identifying and quantifying VOCs in homes during normal daily activities, and especially in homes that do not rely on the combustion of biomass for cooking and heating.…”

Sorption of Volatile Organic Compounds on Organic Substance-Modified Titanate Nanotubes

“…Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) released into the air through various sources have been widely studied in the recent years (Chang et al, 2013;Matsumoto, 2014;Pervez et al, 2014). VOCs in the environment might cause adverse effects on human health (Hwang et al, 2011).…”