ASSIGNMENT 3 – INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ)

An office building with constant-volume system has a filter located before the outdoor air
intake vent with efficiency of 75% for environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). There are 10
occupants, 2 of whom are smokers. Data indicates that smoking one cigarette per hour produces
between 5 and 10 µg/s of particulate matter PM10. Taking the average, a production rate of
particulate matter PM10 at 2×7.5 = 15 µg/s can be assumed. The outdoor airflow rate is 20 cfm
per person, the supply airflow rate 50 cfm per person, and the return airflow rate 40 cfm per
person. The ventilation effectiveness is 0.9. Assume that there is no ETS outdoors. Evaluate
the IAQ based on air quality standards set by U.S. EPA?

20 𝑓𝑡 3 0.028 𝑚3 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑉𝑜̇ = × × = 0.0093 𝑚3⁄𝑠
𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑡 3 60 𝑠

𝑽̇𝒐 = 0.0093 𝑚3⁄𝑠 × 10 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟗𝟑 𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔

40 𝑓𝑡 3 0.028 𝑚3 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑉𝑟̇ = × × = 0.0187 𝑚3 ⁄𝑠
𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑡 3 60 𝑠

𝑽̇𝒓 = 0.0187 𝑚3⁄𝑠 × 10 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟖𝟕 𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔

50 𝑓𝑡 3 0.028 𝑚3 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑉𝑠̇ = × 3
× = 0.0233 𝑚3 ⁄𝑠
𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑡 60 𝑠

𝑽̇𝒔 = 0.0233 𝑚3 ⁄𝑠 × 10 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 = 𝟎. 𝟐𝟑𝟑 𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔

𝑉𝑠̇ = 𝑉𝑜̇ + 𝑅𝑉𝑟̇

0.233 = 0.093 + 0.187𝑅 ∴ 𝑅 = 0.75

 𝑁 − 𝐸𝑣 𝐹𝑟 𝑅𝐸𝑓 𝐶𝑠 𝑉𝑟̇
𝑉𝑜̇ =
𝐸𝑣 (𝐶𝑠 −𝐶𝑜 )

15𝜇 − (0,9)(1)(0.75)(0.75)(0.187)𝐶𝑠
0.093 =
0.9(𝐶𝑠 − 0)

∴ 𝑪𝒔 = 𝟖𝟒. 𝟎𝟗𝟓 𝝁𝒈⁄𝒎𝟑

• For short term – Cs = 84.095 µg/m3 < 150 µg/m3. Hence, the indoor air quality is clean
and safe for the occupants who visited the company occasionally. Short term occupants
here refer to the visitors or couriers who spent less than 24 hours in that particular office.
• For long term – Cs = 84.095 µg/m3 > 50 µg/m3. However, for permanent workers who
spend most of their time in the office, the indoor air quality is unsafe for them. This is
due to the contaminant concentration produced exceed the safe limit for the
contaminant concentration. After spending more than 1 year in such unhealthy indoor
air quality, the workers might face some health issues.