AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Indoor Black and Brown Carbon from Cooking Activities and Outdoor Penetration
SUMIT SANKHYAN, Sameer Patel, Delphine K. Farmer, Marina Vance, University of Colorado Boulder
Abstract Number: 522 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract For energy efficiency, buildings nowadays are being made more airtight with lower air exchange rates resulting in decreased penetration of air pollutants of outdoor origin. However, the same building characteristics might result in higher and prolonged exposure of air pollutants of indoor origin. Particulate matter (PM) emissions from cooking activities are a major contributor to indoor air pollution. Optically absorbing carbonaceous aerosols mainly black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) are an important constituent of PM emissions whose health effects are closely associated with PM exposure. The results presented here are from the HOMEChem field campaign conducted in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom manufactured test house maintained at a relatively constant air exchange rate. Two five-wavelength aethalometers measured real-time BC and BrC concentration indoors as well as outdoors. Indoor to outdoor ratios (I/O) of BC and BrC concentrations were calculated for periods of inactivity inside the house as well as during experiments including the preparation of different types of meals. An overall penetration factor for BC was also calculated to understand the role of building envelope on BC infiltration from outdoors. The power law fitting approach for aerosol light absorption was used to calculate the angstrom exponent (α) during various cooking events. The α value ranged from 1.09-3.48, with an increase in the value of α being attributed to non-BC emissions during periods of intense cooking activities. BC exposure was calculated for the kitchen microenvironment and to direct the attention to the role of cooking activities on indoor air quality in terms of BC emissions.