The impact of particle filtration on indoor air quality in a classroom near a highway

Abstract

A pilot study was performed to investigate whether the application of a new mechanical ventilation system with a fine F8 (MERV14) filter could improve indoor air quality in a high school near the Amsterdam ring road. PM10, PM2.5, and black carbon (BC) concentrations were measured continuously inside an occupied intervention classroom and outside the school during three sampling periods in the winter of 2013/2014. Initially, 3 weeks of baseline measurements were performed, with the existing ventilation system and normal ventilation habits. Next, an intervention study was performed. A new ventilation system was installed in the classroom, and measurements were performed during 8 school weeks, in alternating 2-week periods with and without the filter in the ventilation system under otherwise identical ventilation conditions. Indoor/outdoor ratios measured during the weeks with filter were compared with those measured without filter to evaluate the ability of the F8 filter to improve indoor air quality. During teaching hours, the filter reduced BC exposure by, on average, 36%. For PM10 and PM2.5, a reduction of 34% and 30% was found, respectively. This implies that application of a fine filter can reduce the exposure of schoolchildren to traffic exhaust at hot spot locations by about one-third. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.Received for review 9 September 2015. Accepted for publication 4 May 2016. Practical implicationsOur results indicate that the application of a mechanical ventilation system with a fine filter can reduce classroom exposure to traffic exhaust at hot spot locations. However, filtration is only effective if the filters are frequently replaced and the ventilation system is properly maintained.

Indoor air quality in schools of a highly polluted south Mediterranean area

“…9,10 Recently, data related to IAQ in schools were collected in different European countries [11][12][13][14] and several studies have shown that children who study and live in industrial areas have a tendency to present increased respiratory symptoms when compared to those living in other areas. 17 Many of the more common indoor sources, such as smoking and cooking, are usually not present in school buildings, but several studies have demonstrated that exposure to airborne particles in classrooms can be high anyway, [18][19][20][21] also including increased airborne bacterial concentration in respirable particulate matter. Schools are places with a high population density, in which different types of pollutants may be introduced and remain for a long time due to insufficient outside air supply, and are often characterized by infrequent interventions for environmental remediation and building maintenance.…”

“…Schools are places with a high population density, in which different types of pollutants may be introduced and remain for a long time due to insufficient outside air supply, and are often characterized by infrequent interventions for environmental remediation and building maintenance. 17 Many of the more common indoor sources, such as smoking and cooking, are usually not present in school buildings, but several studies have demonstrated that exposure to airborne particles in classrooms can be high anyway, [18][19][20][21] also including increased airborne bacterial concentration in respirable particulate matter. 22 The presence of outdoor pollution sources-such as vehicles, industrial complexes, petrochemical plants, gas/oil stations, and commercial facilities-in the proximity of school buildings may represent an important health risk factor, in particular for vulnerable individuals such as children.…”

Development of a modeling approach to estimate indoor-to-outdoor sulfur ratios and predict indoor PM2.5 and black carbon concentrations for Eastern Massachusetts households

“…and human activities (e.g., open windows and use of fan, air purifier, or air conditioning). 2,4,5 However, examination of various methods and results suggest that a mass balance approach that uses reliable estimates of infiltration and includes detailed information about individual homes is not available. 6 As the exposure error associated with poorly characterized infiltration was found to bias health effects assessment, the statistical power of epidemiological studies to detect health effects of exposure to indoor air pollutants remains limited.…”

Evaluation of daily time spent in transportation and traffic-influenced microenvironments by urban Canadians

“…In the present study, household income did not have a significant association with attending a school or daycare within one block of a roadway with moderate to heavy traffic, and little variation was observed between cities. Concerns over potential health effects in children and youth have led to recent investigations of possible interventions to reduce exposure to TRAP in schools (MacNeill et al 2016 , van der Zee et al 2017 ).…”