Indoor air formaldehyde (HCHO) pollution of urban coach cabins

Abstract

AbstractUrban coach cabin is an important indoor environment for long journey, formaldehyde (HCHO) is a carcinogenic gas and damages indoor air quality of cabins. In order to control the HCHO pollution, the air samples inside cabins were analysed with a thermally desorbed gas chromatograph, and the HCHO diffusion was simulated with a methodology of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Results show that through the experimental monitoring, the HCHO pollution level range from 33.6 to 142.3 μg/m3, decrease quickly with time, and the attenuation trendline is univariate cubic equation. Through the CFD simulation, the indoor temperature and HCHO level of cabin front and rear ends are higher than ones of other areas for the insufficient air supply and the unreasonable arrangement of air exhaust outlet. Moreover, through the CFD simulation, the HCHO level decreases with height growth of breathing zone and increasing air supply speed, and fresh air lead to diffusion of HCHO pollution from cabin seat area to the surrounding area. Through the CFD simulation, the HCHO pollution under the wind speeds of 3~5 m/s is higher than the HCHO limit level from indoor air standard of China vehicles, which shows that the HCHO emission of cabin seat has an important impact on airborne HCHO pollution inside vehicle cabins.