Indoor air quality in a new air-conditioned building

• Main Author: Chan, Chun How.
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering::Environmental pollution
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/39708
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Air pollution has always been an global issue, and even more in recent times. More and more industrial areas with factories producing smoke discharge, people buying more cars as they are getting more effluent are just some factors which cause the uprise in air pollution problems. In the indoor context, as more places are being urbanized, there will be an increase in the number of air-conditioned buildings to cater for the office workers. More schools with air-conditioned settings are also being built to ensure children are educated so as to contribute back to the society. This Final Year Project will be based on the analysis of indoor air quality of new air-conditioned buildings, with recommended air pollution control methods to reduce the concentrations of the air pollutants present. We have identified a relatively newer building for our project to be based on and it is the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HSS) located at the South Spine of Nanyang Technological University (NTU). In inner detail, we have zoomed into 3 specific locations where we plan to place our Indoor Air Quality Monitor (IQM) to collect data. The pollutants in focus are NO2, CO, CO2, O3 (ozone), volatile organic compounds (VOC), PM10 and PM2.5. The number of air particles present will also be recorded via the Optical Particle Counter (OPC). In the preparatory phase of this project, we have also created our own noise reduction container in which the IQM will be placed inside, as the IQM produces a humming noise while in operation. We will need to use this container as the IQM is planned to be used at times when lessons are in progress. This will be further explained in Section 3.3 later. We have also ordered agar-plates for the cultivation and analysis of the fungi and bacteria collected from air in the 3 different locations. We will then analyse the data recorded from the IQMs and OPCs and conclude on whether if the various parameters have exceeded the maximum allowable concentrations, and if the 2 venues are safe for use.