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  4. The Indoor Chemical Human Emissions and Reactivity (ICHEAR) project: Overview of experimental methodology and preliminary results
 
research article

The Indoor Chemical Human Emissions and Reactivity (ICHEAR) project: Overview of experimental methodology and preliminary results

Beko, Gabriel
•
Wargocki, Pawel
•
Wang, Nijing
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June 7, 2020
Indoor Air

With the gradual reduction of emissions from building products, emissions from human occupants become more dominant indoors. The impact of human emissions on indoor air quality is inadequately understood. The aim of the Indoor Chemical Human Emissions and Reactivity (ICHEAR) project was to examine the impact on indoor air chemistry of whole-body, exhaled, and dermally emitted human bioeffluents under different conditions comprising human factors (t-shirts/shorts vs long-sleeve shirts/pants; age: teenagers, young adults, and seniors) and a variety of environmental factors (moderate vs high air temperature; low vs high relative humidity; presence vs absence of ozone). A series of human subject experiments were performed in a well-controlled stainless steel climate chamber. State-of-the-art measurement technologies were used to quantify the volatile organic compounds emitted by humans and their total OH reactivity; ammonia, nanoparticle, fluorescent biological aerosol particle (FBAP), and microbial emissions; and skin surface chemistry. This paper presents the design of the project, its methodologies, and preliminary results, comparing identical measurements performed with five groups, each composed of 4 volunteers (2 males and 2 females). The volunteers wore identical laundered new clothes and were asked to use the same set of fragrance-free personal care products. They occupied the ozone-free (<2 ppb) chamber for 3 hours (morning) and then left for a 10-min lunch break. Ozone (target concentration in occupied chamber similar to 35 ppb) was introduced 10 minutes after the volunteers returned to the chamber, and the measurements continued for another 2.5 hours. Under a given ozone condition, relatively small differences were observed in the steady-state concentrations of geranyl acetone, 6MHO, and 4OPA between the five groups. Larger variability was observed for acetone and isoprene. The absence or presence of ozone significantly influenced the steady-state concentrations of acetone, geranyl acetone, 6MHO, and 4OPA. Results of replicate experiments demonstrate the robustness of the experiments. Higher repeatability was achieved for dermally emitted compounds and their reaction products than for constituents of exhaled breath.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1111/ina.12687
Web of Science ID

WOS:000538290300001

Author(s)
Beko, Gabriel
Wargocki, Pawel
Wang, Nijing
Li, Mengze
Weschler, Charles J.
Morrison, Glenn
Langer, Sarka
Ernle, Lisa
Licina, Dusan  
Yang, Shen  
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Date Issued

2020-06-07

Publisher

WILEY

Published in
Indoor Air
Volume

30

Issue

6

Start page

1213

End page

1228

Subjects

Construction & Building Technology

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Engineering, Environmental

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Public, Environmental & Occupational Health

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Engineering

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ammonia

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human beings

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indoor emissions

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oh reactivity

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ozone

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particles

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voc

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volatile organic-compounds

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ozone-initiated chemistry

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total oh reactivity

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rate constants

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human breath

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rates

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air

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isoprene

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products

•

identification

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
HOBEL  
Available on Infoscience
June 19, 2021
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/179307
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