American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 39th Annual Conference
October 18 - October 22, 2021

Virtual Conference

Abstract View


Investigation of the Size Resolved Fluorescent Bioaerosol in School Buildings with and without Upper-Room UVGI

CHUNXIAO SU, Josephine Lau, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology

     Abstract Number: 574
     Working Group: Indoor Aerosols

Abstract
The adverse effect of bioaerosols has been one of the main concerns for human in highly occupied buildings such as classrooms. After the outbreak of COVID-19, investigation of behavior and effective intervention technology of indoor bioaerosols, especially for smaller size ones, have been urgent and critical.

To demonstrate the decay rates of bioaerosols by upper-room UVGI and room conditions, a field experiment was developed. Settings of the UVGI and non-UVGI classrooms were switched weekly through as eight-week measurement. In the measurement, samples were collected in two classrooms serving as UVGI and non-UVGI control rooms in an elementary school. The two classrooms shared the same schedules through the entire measurement. The size resolved concentrations of fluorescent bioaerosol were measured as the primary parameter for the analysis.

Our result shows that the decay rates of fluorescent bioaerosol concentrations for the smaller sizes of bioaerosols (0.5 and 3 micro meter) have shown consistent higher susceptibility than these for the larger sizes of bioaerosols. The fluorescent bioaerosol concentrations in UVGI room show higher decay rates than the larger fluorescent bioaerosols. The higher decay rates of small size bioaerosols indicates potential better application of air cleaning technology such as UV light, especially at where small size bioaerosols are the main source of pollutions. This will help further prevent the transmission of disease by bioaerosols such as COVID-19 in indoor environment.