Contributions of Indoor and Outdoor Sources to Ozone in Residential Buildings in Nanjing

Abstract

Ozone has become one of the most serious air pollutants in China in recent years. Since people spend most of their time indoors, the ozone in the indoor environment could be a major factor affecting the occupants’ health. The indoor ozone in residential buildings mainly comes from two sources: outdoor atmosphere and indoor ozone produced by electrical devices. In this study, a typical residence in Nanjing was taken as an example to calculate and compare the contributions of indoor and outdoor sources to ozone in the building. A questionnaire survey about the type, the placement, and the frequency of use of the ozone emission devices was performed to provide the basis for the settings of indoor ozone sources. The multi-zone software CONTAM was used hourly to simulate the ozone concentration in summer and in winter with inner doors either closed or open, and it was noted whether there were ozone emission devices indoors or not. Source contribution was quantified and compared by three methods in this paper: (1) the average indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratio, (2) the I/O ratio frequency, and (3) the ratio of indoor ozone concentration without ozone sources to that with ozone sources. The results showed that the contribution of outdoor sources was much greater than that of indoor sources in summer, but in winter, the frequency of I/O > 1 could reach 55.8% of the total seasonal time, and the ratio of indoor ozone concentration without sources to that with sources could reach as high as 74.3%. This meant that the indoor concentration had the potential to exceed the outdoor. Furthermore, human respiratory exposure in different ages and genders was calculated. It was found that teenagers aged 10–18 years old and female adults had a higher respiratory exposure level.