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Eileen Abt,¹ Helen H. Suh,² George Allen,² and Petros Koutrakis²

¹National Research Council, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, Washington, DC, USA
²Harvard University, School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract

An intensive particle monitoring study was conducted in homes in the Boston, Massachusetts, area during the winter and summer of 1996 in an effort to characterize sources of indoor particles. As part of this study, continuous particle size and mass concentration data were collected in four single-family homes, with each home monitored for one or two 6-day periods. Additionally, housing activity and air exchange rate data were collected. Cooking, cleaning, and the movement of people were identified as the most important indoor particle sources in these homes. These sources contributed significantly both to indoor concentrations (indoor-outdoor ratios varied between 2 and 33) and to altered indoor particle size distributions. Cooking, including broiling/baking, toasting, and barbecuing contributed primarily to particulate matter with physical diameters between 0.02 and 0.5 µm [PM_(0.02-0.5) ], with volume median diameters of between 0.13 and 0.25 µm. Sources of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters between 0.7 and 10 µm [PM_(0.7-10) ] included sautéing, cleaning (vacuuming, dusting, and sweeping) , and movement of people, with volume median diameters of between 3 and 4.3 µm. Frying was associated with particles from both PM_(0.02-0.5) and PM_(0.7-10) . Air exchange rates ranged between 0.12 and 24.3 exchanges/hr and had significant impact on indoor particle levels and size distributions. Low air exchange rates (< 1 exchange/hr) resulted in longer air residence times and more time for particle concentrations from indoor sources to increase. When air exchange rates were higher (> 1 exchange/hr) , the impact of indoor sources was less pronounced, as indoor particle concentrations tracked outdoor levels more closely. Key words: air exchange rate, ambient concentrations, indoor particle sources, particle size distributions, particle decay. Environ Health Perspect 108:35-44 (2000) . [Online 7 December 1999]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108p35-44abt/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to E. Abt, National Research Council, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, 2101 Constitution Avenue, HA354, Washington, DC 20418 USA. Telephone: (202) 334-2756. Fax: (202) 334-2752. E-mail: eabt@nas.edu

This research was conducted as part of E.A.'s doctoral thesis in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

We thank the study participants for their warm hospitality, as well as D. Belliveau, M. Davey, S. Ferguson, L. Rojas-Bracho, and M. Wolfson for their assistance. We also thank P. Catalano, C. Sioutas, and L. Wallace for their thoughtful contributions. The authors acknowledge guidance from project managers R. Wyzga of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and W. Ollison of the American Petroleum Institute (API) .

This study was funded by support from EPRI and API.

Received 28 December 1998 ; accepted 4 August 1999.