AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
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The Influence of Air Cleaners on Concentrations of Indoor Particulate Matter Components and Oxidative Potential in Beijing, China
Ying Zhan, CHRISTINA NORRIS, James Schauer, Martin Shafer, Michael Bergin, Karoline Johnson, Junfeng Zhang, Yinping Zhang, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract Number: 343 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract In areas with poor air quality the number of indoor air filtration devices available has been growing steadily, with limited research undertaken to assess their effectiveness. We collected 48-hour filter-based PM2.5 samples indoors and outdoors at six residences in Beijing, China in summer, 2016 to assess the effectiveness of Atmosphere® Air Purifiers to reduce air pollutants. We gathered samples twice per home – once during true filtration, with all filters installed in the purifier, and again during sham filtration, when we removed 2 of the 3 filters. We collected personal exposure samples for one resident of each home to assess the impact of air purification on personal exposure. We determined PM2.5 mass concentrations and analyzed filters for components of PM2.5 including organic carbon, elemental carbon, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, dust and 21 metals. We conducted a toxicity assay to evaluate the effect of filtration on reactive oxygen species (ROS) as they may be implicated in PM2.5-health relationships. The average indoor PM2.5 concentration during true filtration was 8.47 µg/m3, compared to 49.02 µg/m3 during sham filtration. Purifiers significantly reduced the concentration of all components of PM2.5 except for organic carbon. Air purification was not related to personal exposure to PM2.5 or its components, likely because participants spent much of their time in unpurified microenvironments with high PM2.5 concentrations or with other sources of PM2.5 (e.g., traffic, cooking). Air cleaners reduced the ROS activity of PM2.5, and most of the measured PM2.5 components were found to be correlated with the ROS activity. In conclusion, the air purifier reduced the PM2.5 total mass concentration as well as its components’ concentration, and may also reduce the toxicity of the particles in the indoor environment. Additional research is needed to better understand the contribution of microenvironments to personal exposure to PM2.5.