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Model Estimation of Indoor-to-Outdoor Migration of Volatile Chemical Products
AMIRASHKAN ASKARI, Arthur W. H. Chan, University of Toronto
Abstract Number: 287
Working Group: Missing contributors to SOA: The Role of Volatile Chemical Products (VCPS)
Abstract
Recent studies have revealed the importance of Volatile Chemical Products (VCPs) in determining air pollutant levels, specifically as precursors of secondary pollutants such as secondary organic aerosol or tropospheric ozone. However, since a considerable fraction of VCPs is consumed indoors, there is a knowledge gap regarding the effective fraction of indoor VCP emissions that, after possible attenuation through indoor reaction and partitioning phenomena, are transferred to outdoor air through building air exchange processes. In this work, we aim to parametrize the effective VCP emissions from different buildings and better estimate these emissions. Using a bottom-up approach, an estimation of the total weight of different classes of VCPs consumed annually in Canada is made. Subsequently, using the California Air Resources Board (CARB) emission inventories, the chemical profile of these emissions is investigated. Finally, by running a fugacity-based chemical fate model, an estimation of the effective steady-state VCP emissions in a typical year is presented. Lastly, the effects of building-specific parameters on the fraction of VCP migration to outdoor air are explored.