Source Strengths for Indoor Human Activities that Resuspend Particulate Matter

Abstract

A mathematical model was applied to continuous indoor and outdoor particulate matter (PM) measurements to estimate source strengths for a variety of prescribed human activities that resuspend house dust in the home. Activities included folding blankets, folding clothes, dry dusting, making a bed, dancing on a rug, dancing on a wood floor, vacuuming, and walking around and sitting on upholstered furniture. Although most of the resuspended particle mass from these activities was larger than 5 μm in diameter, the resuspension of PM2.5 and PM5 was substantial, with source strengths ranging from 0.03 to 0.5 mg min-1 for PM2.5 and from 0.1 to 1.4 mg min-1 for PM5. Source strengths for PM > 5 μm could not be quantified due to instrument limitations. The source strengths were found to be a function of the number of persons performing the activity, the vigor of the activity, the type of activity, and the type of flooring.

Elevated personal exposure to particulate matter from human activities in a residence

“…(2), a lower source strength does not necessarily result in a lower personal exposure. For example, the source strength for the ''one person walk'' activity in the basement was actually lower than the same activity on the first floor (Ferro et al, 2004), while the air exchange rate in the basement was twice as high as that on the first floor. However, because the mixing volume of the basement is less than one-third as large as the mixing volume of the first floor, the activity resulted in a higher human exposure and indoor concentration in the basement.…”

Quantifying human exposure to air pollution—Moving from static monitoring to spatio-temporally resolved personal exposure assessment

“…Indoor environments also have a wide and varied range of primary sources of potentially harmful substances (e.g. environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), cooking and heating with natural gas or solid fuels) which are independent of the outdoor environment, but can modify a resident's exposure substantially since they are often within immediate personal space (Ferro et al, 2004;Franklin, 2007;Freeman and Saenz de Tejada, 2002;Lai et al, 2006;Rodes et al, 1991;WHO, 2005b). However, small area variations and fluctuations over time imply that even a group of people e.g.…”

Size–segregated particulate matter inside residences of elderly in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo, Brazil

“…Activities by the residents inside their residences contribute to increased concentration of pollutants indoor (Ferro et al, 2004). In addition, the elderly population does not open their windows often.…”