Docsity
Docsity

Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity


Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan


Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips

Indoor Air Pollution: Common Pollutants, Health Effects, and Control Measures, Slides of Biology

An overview of indoor air pollution, its sources, health effects, and control measures. It covers common indoor air pollutants such as biological contaminants, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, environmental tobacco smoke, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, ozone, and radon. The document also discusses sick building syndrome and legionnaires’ disease, as well as control measures to improve indoor air quality.

Typology: Slides

2012/2013

Uploaded on 01/23/2013

anuragini
anuragini 🇮🇳

4.4

(14)

136 documents

1 / 19

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
Indoor Air Pollution
Docsity.com
pf3
pf4
pf5
pf8
pf9
pfa
pfd
pfe
pff
pf12
pf13

Partial preview of the text

Download Indoor Air Pollution: Common Pollutants, Health Effects, and Control Measures and more Slides Biology in PDF only on Docsity!

Indoor Air Pollution

Contents

• Introduction

• Sources and impacts of common indoor air

pollutants

• Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)

• Legionnaires’ disease

• Control measures

Common indoor air pollutants [1]

  • Biological contaminants
  • Carbon dioxide
  • Carbon monoxide
  • Nitrogen oxides
  • Environmental tobacco smoke
  • Formaldehyde
  • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
  • Ozone
  • Radon

Common indoor air pollutants [2]

  • Biological contaminants
    • Bacteria, fungi and viruses
    • Breed in humid environment
    • Spread through ventilation systems
    • Sources:
      • Naturally exist in air, humid and poor ventilated area
    • Effects:
      • Vary with types
      • e.g. Sick Building Syndrome, Legionnaires’ disease, Colds and Influenza

Common indoor air pollutants [4]

  • Carbon monoxide
    • No color, smell and taste
    • Inhibits oxygen transport in blood
    • Irreversibly binds to hemoglobin
    • Very toxic
    • Sources:
      • Incomplete combustion
    • Effects:
      • Low concentration:
        • Flu-like symptoms, such as nausea, fatigue, rapid breathing, chest tightness and impaired judgement, cardiovascular diseases
      • High concentration:
        • death

Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are released during combustion. (Sources: http://hkcg.com)

Common indoor air pollutants [5]

• Nitrogen oxides

  • e.g. NO and NO 2
  • Gas generated from combustions
  • Sources:
    • Burning of cigarette
    • Vehicles exhaust fumes
  • Effects:
    • Irritate eye and respiratory tract

Common indoor air pollutants [7]

  • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
    • A range of organic compounds
    • Examples: benzene, chloroform and xylene
    • Evaporate at room temperature
    • Some are carcinogens, e.g. benzene and formaldehyde
    • Sources:
      • Solvents, cleaning agents, wood, paints, plastic, dyes, office machines (fax machines,computers, printers, etc), insecticides, and etc.
    • Effects:
      • eye, nose, throat and respiratory tract irritation, headaches, poor concentration, dizziness and tiredness
      • damages of central nervous system, liver and kidney

Common indoor air pollutants [8]

Cleaning agents are also a source of indoor VOCs. (Sources: http://www.wellcome.hk.com)

Some home appliance such as personal computer can release VOCs too. (Sources: http://www.fortress.com.hk)

  • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (con’t)

Common indoor air pollutants [10]

  • Ozone
    • Odorless and colorless
    • Highly reactive
    • Sources:
      • photocopier, laser printers and ionisers
    • Effects:
      • Damage lung seriously
      • Irritate eye and respiratory tract

Photocopiers also release ozone. (Sources: http://www.fortress.com)Docsity.com

Common indoor air pollutants [11]

  • Radon
    • No color, smell and taste
    • radioactive.
    • Sources:
      • Release from granite in the concrete building.
    • Effects:
      • Prolonged intake:
        • increase the incidence of lung cancer
      • The mixture of radon and tobacco smoke is much more harmful to human
      • Smokers have high probability of having lung cancers than non- smokers under the same level of radon.

Legionnaires’ disease

  • Caused by bacteria, Legionnella pneumophila
  • Symptoms:
    • Pneumonia, high-fever, chills, headache and muscle pain

Control measures

  • Eliminate the sources of pollutant
  • Increase ventilation
  • Keep the ventilation system clean

Upgrade, clean and sterilize the air conditioner is one way to keep the indoor air in good quality. (Sources: http://www.fortress.com.hk)

Covering the wall with wallpaper can eliminate the release of radon from concrete. (Sources: http://www.corbis.com)

Relevant Websites

  • Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health

(http://www.info.gov.hk/hkcosh/)

  • Indoor Air Quality Association (http://www.iaqa.org)
  • Indoor Air Quality Information Centre

(http://www.iaq.gov.hk/)

  • World Health Organisation (WHO)

(http://www.who.int/home-page/)

  • Environmental Protection Department

(http://www.info.gov.hk/epd/index.htm)