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Indoor air quality in primary schools Preliminary results of the ARIA Project

J. Cavaleiro Rufo, J. Madureira, I. Paciência, E. de Oliveira FernandesINEGI, Porto, Portugal

C. Pereira, J.P. TeixeiraINSA, Porto, Portugal

K. Slezakova, M.C. PereiraLEPABE, FEUP, Porto, Portugal

M. Pinto, A. MoreiraFMUP, Porto, Portugal

HB 2015 – Healthy and energy-efficient school buildings12/02/2015

GEAC - Energy and

Built Environment Group

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19 of May, 2015

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Outline

• Context

• Objectives

• Materials and methods

• Sampling sites

• Indoor and outdoor air measurements

• Walkthrough inspection

• Results

• Final remarks & future perspectives

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Context

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Long term exposure to indoor air pollutants

Large section of time spent at school

Children

Immature respiratory systems

Development and exacerbation of respiratory diseases

The ARIA Project

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GEAC - Energy and Built Environment Group

This work describes the preliminary results regarding the IAQ parameters

measured at the first 10 ARIA primary schools (35 classrooms).

Objectives of the ARIA project

a) Evaluate the indoor air quality (IAQ) of 20 Portuguese primary schools

b) Assess the clinical condition of children attending the selected schools

c) Study the associations between school IAQ and the children’s health

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• 10 public primary schools (35 classrooms)

• Located in the urban area of Porto (S1 to S10)

• One school day per classroom

• Occupation period only

• Recess periods not considered.

Methods: Sampling sites & study design

Participating schools

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Methods: Indoor and outdoor air measurements

IAQ Parameter Method Instrument Analysis PeriodVolatile organic compounds

Passive diffusionTenax TA stainless steel

tubesGC-MS 1 school week (Monday to Friday)

Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde

Passive diffusion Radiello passive samplers HP-LC 1 school week (Monday to Friday)

PM10 and PM2.5 GravimetrySKC portable pumps

coupled with PTFE filters- - 8 hours per sampling place

Ultrafine particles (Optical) P-Track model 8525 - -8 hours per sampling place (1 min

logging intervals)

Bacteria and fungi

NIOSH 0800 and EN 13098 methods

Merck Air Sampler MAS-100

Naked eye count with Fellers law

correction10 min per sampling place

Carbon dioxideInfrared non-

dispersive sensorTSI IAQ-CALCTM monitor

(model 7545)- -

5 school days per classroom (Monday to Friday, 5 min logging

intervals)

Relative humidityThin-film capacitive

sensor TSI IAQ-CALCTM monitor

(model 7545)- -

5 school days per classroom (Monday to Friday, 5 min logging

intervals)

Temperature ThermistorTSI IAQ-CALCTM monitor

(model 7545)- -

5 school days per classroom (Monday to Friday, 5 min logging

intervals)

Table 1 – Air sampling methodologies

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Methods: Walkthrough inspection & checklist

Characteristic Nr School ID

Low traffic 4 S1, S2, S4, S7

Medium traffic 3 S5, S8, S9

High traffic 3 S3, S6, S10

Residential area 3 S1, S2, S4

Densely packed residential area 7 S3, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9, S10

Industrial area 1 S1

Metro station 2 S5, S10

Hospital 1 S4

Natural ventilation 10 All schools

Meals are cooked in school 1 S5

Table 2 – Example of some characteristics of the sampled schools

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• Outdoor characterization

• School building characteristics

• Classroom characteristics

• Ventilation strategies

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Results (1)

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

S10All

scho

o ls

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

Indoor Bacteria

Indoor Fungi

C

CF

U/m

3

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

S10All s

c hools

0

50

100

150

0

1×100 4

2×100 4

3×100 4PM10

PM2.5

UFP

B

PM

(µg

/m3 )

UFP

(particle/cm3)

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

S10All s

choo

ls

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

16

18

20

22

24

26CO2

Temperature

D

CO

2 (p

pm)

Te

mpe

rature (ºC

)

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

S10All

schoo

ls

0

200

400

600

800

0

10

20

30

40Total VOCFormaldehydeAcetaldehyde

A

Tot

al V

OC

(µg

/m3 ) A

ldehydes (µg/m

3)

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

S10All

sch oo

ls

0

200

400

600

800

0

10

20

30

40Total VOCFormaldehydeAcetaldehyde

A

Tot

al V

OC

(µg

/m3 ) A

ldehydes (µ g/m

3)

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

S10All s

choo

ls

0

50

100

150

0

1×100 4

2×100 4

3×100 4PM10

PM2.5

UFP

B

PM

(µg

/m3 )

UF

P (particle/cm

3)

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

S10All s

cho

ols

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

Indoor Bacteria

Indoor Fungi

C

CFU

/m3

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9

S10All s

choo

ls

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

16

18

20

22

24

26CO2

Temperature

D

CO

2 (p

pm)

Te

mpe

rature (ºC

)

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Results (2)

Parameters S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 Total

TVOCs 11.1 2.3 2.6 2.6 1.2 3.2 1.9 1.1 1.2 0.7 1.6

Formaldehyde 10.9 2.5 11.4 18.6 4.3 9.9 8.1 11.5 11.4 22.2 9.2

Acetaldehyde 20.7 4.6 15.9 18.7 1.7 6.9 2.4 3.1 6.8 17.7 5.4

PM10 1.5 0.6 1.4 10.8 2.0 1.8 1.5 1.4 3.0 3.4 1.8

PM2.5 1.6 0.4 1.7 1.5 2.7 2.1 0.6 0.5 2.3 N/A 1.2

UFP 1.8 0.9 0.3 2.5 1.8 1.3 0.8 0.7 0.8 1.0 1.0

Bacteria 6.2 12.1 32.8 42.5 16.3 704.8 30.3 42.3 2.3 1.8 7.2

Fungi 0.8 1.4 4.4 40.0 1.9 2.1 11.1 6.5 0.9 1.3 5.3

CO2 6.7 3.5 3.7 6.1 4.9 2.5 2.6 3.0 5.9 8.1 4.5

Temp. 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.5 1.4 1.3 0.8 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.2

RH 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8 1.9 0.9 1.0 0.9 0.9

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Table 3 – Indoor/outdoor ratios of the measured pollutants, per school

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• A large number of pollutants exceeded the WHO and Portuguese reference values.

• The high CO2 levels suggest poor ventilation in schools, which may be responsible for the

increased indoor concentrations of other pollutants.

• Opening the windows during school breaks may be a solution to overcome this problem.

• The ARIA project will study the tendencies of IAQ parameter concentrations associated

with classroom and building characteristics.

• The results from the children’s clinical evaluation may further clarify the health risks of

exposure to air pollutants in schools and their impact on the development of asthma and

allergy

Final remarks

Perspectives towards the future

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19 of May, 2015

Modern design Energy efficiency Mechanical ventilation

Modern schools in Porto (only 1 modern school in 20)

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Thank you!

19 of May, 2015

This study is supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology(FCT) through the ARIA project (PTDC/DTP-SAP/1522/2012).