Estimating Residential Air Exchange Rates in Rural Bangladesh Using a Near Field-Far Field Model

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ahmed S ; Babik KR ; Baqui AH ; Chowdhury N ; Das D ; Hanif AAM ; McCollum ED ; Moynihan E ; Nicas M ; Ramachandran G ; Roy AD
• Description:
  Household air pollution due to solid fuel (biomass) combustion is widely prevalent in rural households in the developing world. Providing adequate ventilation can be a potential method to reduce exposures to residents. Previous cookstove studies in rural areas around the world have estimated the ventilation air changes per hour (ACH) values to be of the order of >20. These studies use a one-compartment model to estimate the ACH from the decay of the pollutant released very near to the cookstove. While the one-box compartmental model is appropriate for estimating exposures farther away from emission sources, a multi-compartment (e.g., a 2-box model) may be more appropriate for distinguishing between exposures of the cook versus other occupants in the house, as well as estimating ventilation rates in the house. In the present study, we use a two-compartment model to estimate the ACH. Field based particulate matter measurements were carried out in 40 Bangladesh rural households in kitchen and living room. The overall Geometric Mean (Geometric Standard Deviation) of ACH across households were found to be 0.43 (4.3) in the kitchen and 0.32 (2.7) in the living room. Obtaining the air changes per hour or ventilation rates from the decay curve of concentrations in the near vicinity of the pollutant source will lead to significant over-estimates. Our findings indicate that there is currently a substantial over-estimate based on using an incorrect model to derive the ACH values. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Fuel Oils Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Air Pollution Author Keywords: Air Changes Per Hour Cooking Equipment Cookstove Decay Rate Exposure Modeling Fuels IAQ Indoor Air Quality Particulates Rural Households

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• ISSN:
  0360-1323
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  206
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068039
• Citation:
  Build Environ 2021 Dec; 206:108325
• Contact Point Address:
  Gurumurthy Ramachandran, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dept. of Environmental Health and Engineering, 615 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
• Email:
  gramach5@jhu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  Johns Hopkins University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Building and Environment
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:900ef93405e2237b20499c4d92931d1877f25e381aa17a048771ca04ad17df520f8267fe50cd148d5c7891cf03a5e936c5c47e9b6ecbcddbb28c1e69717f51b9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230261/cdc_230261_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.85 MB ]