STUDY OF AIR QUALITY IN THE MUSEUM ENVIRONMENT.

GALATI STUDY CASE

Adrian Roșu1, Daniel-Eduard Constantin1, Mihaela Timofti1, Mirela Voiculescu1, Bogdan Roșu1, Gabriel Murariu1, Valentina
Calmuc1, Alexandru Iulian Chelmus2

1"Dunarea de Jos", University of Galati, Faculty of Sciences and Environment, European Center of Excellence for the Environment,
Str. Domneasca, Nr.111, Galati 800008, Romania
2 National Institute of Optoelectronic - INOE 2000, Bucharest, Romania

e-mail address: adrian_rosu_90@yahoo.ro

Abstract:

Appropriate measures of conservation and protection of artworks is crucial for the humanity. It is known that the conservation of cultural heritage require that atmospheric parameters as temperature, humidity or
radiation have certain values and even small deviation from these may irreversibly damage paintings, sculptures, jewels, textiles etc. Air pollution (increased concentration of certain atmospheric components) may
also affect negatively the quality of art works trough direct and indirect corrosion effects. To our knowledge such measurements have not been performed for sufficiently long time in local museums. In this study we
present, for the time, measurement air quality together with temperature, humidity and radiation measurements inside several museums from Galati city (45° 26′ N, 28° 2′ ″ E), Romania. The results will be used
for implementing appropriate measures future conservation and protection of artworks in museums.

Keywords: air pollution, art works conservation, indoor pollution level, museum, cultural heritage

Method and Data used:

For our study we proposed to study the variations caused by the air flow from outdoor to indoor in the
art Museum of Visual Arts from Galați (see Figure 1). For the experimental part was mounted 3 air
quality stations inside the museum two on the ground floor and one on the first floor (see Figure 2) in
the perioad of 9 - 11 October 2018. The equipaments used was AeroQual 500 (see Figure 3) which are
ultra portable handheld monitor equipped with interchangeable cartridge (air quality sensor or “head”)
that attaches to the monitor base that enables accurate real-time surveying (see Table 1) of air
parameters and pollutants such as: O3, SO2, NO2, PM2.5, PM10, H2S, Humidity(RH) and Temperature
(oC). The monitors was placed in the museum close to the entrance of each floor and a survey of the
people entering and exiting the museum was performed each hour. Also we extracted the data of each
atmospheric parameter recorded by the outdoor air quality monitoring station GL-2 registred in the
NAQMN (National Air Quality Monitoring Network), location of the Station can be observed in
Figure 1. Figure 2. Location of monitoring stations on
Figure 1. Location of the Museum of Visual Arts ground and first floor at the Museum of Visual Figure 3. Instalation of air
from Galati and air monitoring station GL-2 Arts from Galati monitoring station

09.10.2018 09.10.2018 10.10.2018 09.10.2018 09.10.2018

1.2 4.5
1.2 4.5 1.2 2.5 1.2 4.5 1.05 4.5
NO2_outdoor_GL2 (x67.22) O3_indoor(X0.0001) Temp_indoor(°C x24.2)
4 SO2_indoor (x0.28) 1.15
1 NO2_indoor(x3.04) 4 4 1 4
1 SO2_outdoor_GL2(x7.18) 1 O3_outdoor_GL2(x77) Temp_outdoor (°C x 22.78)
Flux of people 3.5 2 1.1
3.5 3.5 3.5
Number of people

Flux of people Flux of people Flux of people

Number of people
Number of people
Number of people

Number of people
0.8 3 0.8 1.05 0.95
0.8 3 1.5 3 3
ppm

ppm
ppm

Temp (°C)

RH (%)

1
2.5 2.5 0.6 2.5 0.9 2.5
0.6 0.6 0.95
NO2

O3
SO2

2 2 1 2 2
0.4 0.9 0.85
0.4 1.5 0.4 1.5 0.85 1.5 RH_indoor(% x48.46) 1.5
0.2 0.5 0.8
1 1 0.8 1 RH_outdoor (% x 76) 1
0.2 0.2 Flux of people
0.5 0 0 0.75 0.5 0.75
0.5 0.5
12 AM

10 AM
11 AM
3 AM
4 AM

3 PM
1 PM
2 PM

4 PM
5 PM
6 PM
7 PM
8 PM
9 PM
1 AM
2 AM

5 AM
6 AM
7 AM
8 AM
9 AM

12 PM

10 PM
11 PM

0 0 0.7 0
0 0 0.7 0
3 PM

4 PM

5 PM

6 PM

7 PM

8 PM

9 PM

10 PM

11 PM
3 PM

4 PM

5 PM

6 PM

7 PM

8 PM

9 PM

10 PM

11 PM

3 PM

6 PM
4 PM

5 PM

7 PM

8 PM

9 PM

10 PM

11 PM
3 PM

4 PM

5 PM

6 PM

7 PM

8 PM

9 PM

10 PM

11 PM

Hour Hour
Hour Hour Hour

10.10.2018 10.10.2018 11.10.2018 10.10.2018 10.10.2018

1.2 2.5 1.2 2.5 1.2 10 1.2 2.5 1.05 2.5
NO2_indoor (x2.12) Temp_indoor(°C x23.48)
9
NO2_outdoor_GL2 (x53.51) 1 1.1 Temp_outdoor (°C x 17.94) 1
1 2 1 8 2 2
Flux of people 2 Flux of people
Number of people

0.95
Number of people

7 1
Number of people

Number of people
Number of people

0.8
0.8 0.8 6 0.9
1.5
Temp (°C)

1.5
ppm

1.5 0.9 1.5

ppm
ppm

RH(%)

0.6 O3_indoor(X0.0001) 5 0.85

0.6 0.6 SO2_indoor(x0.32)
SO2

O3

4 0.8
NO2

O3_outdoor_GL2(x77) 1 0.8
1 SO2_outdoor_GL2(x8.07) 1 0.4 1
0.4 Flux of people 3 0.75
0.4 Flux of people 0.7
0.2 2 RH_indoor(% x47.15)
0.5 0.5 0.5 0.7 0.5
0.2 0.2 1 0.6 RH_outdoor (% x 98)
0.65 Flux of people
0 0
0 0 0.5 0 0.6 0
12 AM

10 AM

11 AM
4 AM
1 AM

2 AM

3 AM

5 AM

6 AM

7 AM

8 AM

9 AM

12 PM

0 0
12 AM

10 AM

8 PM
12 PM

2 PM

4 PM

6 PM
2 AM

4 AM

6 AM

8 AM

10 PM
12 AM

10 AM
11 AM
4 AM
5 AM

8 PM
9 PM
1 PM
2 PM
3 PM
4 PM
5 PM
6 PM
7 PM
1 AM
2 AM
3 AM

6 AM
7 AM
8 AM
9 AM

12 PM

10 PM
11 PM

12 AM

10 AM
11 AM
4 AM

9 AM

2 PM
1 PM

3 PM
4 PM
5 PM
6 PM
7 PM
8 PM
9 PM
1 AM
2 AM
3 AM

5 AM
6 AM
7 AM
8 AM

12 PM

10 PM
11 PM

12 AM

6 AM

10 AM
2 AM

4 AM

8 AM

2 PM

4 PM

6 PM

8 PM
12 PM

10 PM

Hour
Hour Hour Hour Hour

11.10.2018 09.10.2018 2.5

11.10.2018 1.2 11.10.2018 11.10.2018
1.2 10 1.2 10 1.2 10 1.2 10
NO2_indoor(x3.43) PM10_indoor(x0.04)
9 9 PM10_outdoor_GL2(x44.64) 1.1 9 9
1 NO2_outdoor_GL2(x94.29) 1 2 1 1.1
Flux of people 8 8 Flux of people 8 8
PM10\ PM2.5 ppm

1
Number of people

Number of people
Number of people

Number of people

7 PM2.5_indoor(x0.04) 7 1
Number of people

0.8 7 0.8 7
0.8 1.5 0.9
6 6 6
ppm

Temp (°C)
ppm

Temp (°C)

6 0.9
0.6 5 SO2_indoor(x0.32) 0.6 0.8 Temp_indoor(°C x24.2) 5 5
0.6 5
SO2
NO2

4 SO2_outdoor_GL2(x8.07) 1 Temp_outdoor (°C x 21.88) 4 0.8

0.7 4
0.4 Flux of people 4 0.4 Flux of people RH_indoor(% x46.20)
3 0.4 3 0.7 3
3 0.6 RH_outdoor (% x 96)
2 0.5 0.2 2 2
0.2 Flux of people
1 2 0.5 0.6
0.2 1 1
0 0 1 0 0 0.4 0 0.5 0
12 AM

10 AM
11 AM
1 AM

6 AM

1 PM
12 PM

2 PM
3 PM
4 PM
5 PM
2 AM
3 AM
4 AM
5 AM

7 AM
8 AM
9 AM

10 AM

11 AM

1 PM

2 PM

3 PM

4 PM

5 PM
12 PM

10 AM
12 AM

11 AM
2 AM

1 PM
2 PM
3 PM
4 PM
5 PM
1 AM

3 AM
4 AM
5 AM
6 AM
7 AM
8 AM
9 AM

12 PM

0 0
12 AM

10 AM
11 AM
1 AM
2 AM
3 AM
4 AM
5 AM
6 AM
7 AM
8 AM
9 AM

1 PM
2 PM
3 PM
4 PM
5 PM
12 PM
11 AM
12 AM

5 AM

10 AM
1 AM

2 AM

3 AM

4 AM

6 AM

7 AM

8 AM

9 AM

12 PM

Hour Hour Hour Hour Hour

Figure 4. Results of the comparison of variation on indoor and outdoor air parameters: O3, SO2, NO2, PM2.5, PM10, H2S, Humidity(RH) and Temperature (oC) during measurement capmaign from 9-11 October 2018
Table 1. Caracteristic of the monitoring air quality stations mounted inside the museum
Trace
Senzor used
gase/Parameter
Range Resolution Measurement method Date Conclusions:
9-10 October Results of this study show in Figure 4 that during the experiment 9-11 October 2018 air flow cause by
Ozone Sensor O3 0 - 0.5 ppm 0.001 ppm Gas Sensitive Semiconductor (GSS)
2018 the entrance of people in the museum is recorded by all instruments as a increase of the indoor air
9-11 October pollutants such as NO2, SO2, O3, PM2.5, PM10 , this was recorded after aproximative one hour. After the
Sulfur Dioxide Sensor SO2 0 - 10 ppm 0.01 ppm Gas Sensitive Semiconductor (GSS)
2018
9-11 October
maximum is recorded the peak is diminished in time due to low air movement (see temperature
Nitrogen Dioxide NO2 0 - 1 ppm 0.001 ppm Gas Sensitive Semiconductor (GSS) variation) and a low mixing rate. In the case of temperature and humidity we can see that indoor
2018
Particulate Matter Sensor PM10 and PM2.5 0.001 – 1 ppb 0.001 ppb Laser particle counter (LPC)
11 Octomber variations are very small even when a mass of air enters the exposition room. The formation of
2018 damaging products from humidity and air polutants and the efects of them on the artwork needs more
Temperature and Relative Humidity T 40 - 123.8 oC/ 0.01 oC 9-11 October
(CMOSens® technology (CMOS) time to colect a larger data set and a more precise measurement method..
Sensor RH 0 - 100% RH 0.03 % RH 2018

Acknowledgment: The work of Adrian Roșu and Mihaela Timofti - was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project IMPLEMENT
project number 55 PCCDI/ 2018. The work of Bogdan Rosu, Valentina Calmuc and Gabriel Murariu was carried out in the framework of the Ministry of Research and Innovation project – 6PS /2017 – Researches for
forest national monitoring system modernization using remote sensing techniques and UAV devices. The work of Daniel-Eduard Constantin and Mirela Voiculescu was supported by the project ASSESS no. 150/2017, a
grant of the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA-STAR).