Partitioning indoor-generated and outdoor-generated PM2.5 from real-time residential measurements in urban and peri-urban Beijing

Hanbin Zhang; Yunfei Fan; Yiqun Han; Li Yan; Bingling Zhou; Wu Chen; Yutong Cai; AIRLESS Team; Queenie Chan; Tong Zhu; Frank J Kelly; Benjamin Barratt

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157249

Partitioning indoor-generated and outdoor-generated PM_2.5 from real-time residential measurements in urban and peri-urban Beijing

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 1:845:157249. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157249. Epub 2022 Jul 9.

Authors

Hanbin Zhang¹, Yunfei Fan², Yiqun Han³, Li Yan⁴, Bingling Zhou⁵, Wu Chen⁶, Yutong Cai⁷; AIRLESS Team; Queenie Chan³, Tong Zhu⁶, Frank J Kelly¹, Benjamin Barratt⁸

Affiliations

¹ NIHR HPRU in Environmental Exposures and Health, Imperial College London, UK; Environmental Research Group, MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
² BIC-ESAT and SKL-ESPC, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, Beijing 100012, China.
³ Environmental Research Group, MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁴ Environmental Research Group, MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK; National School of Development at Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
⁵ Lau China Institute, King's College London, London, UK.
⁶ BIC-ESAT and SKL-ESPC, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
⁷ Environmental Research Group, MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK; Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK; NIHR HPRU in Environmental Exposures and Health, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
⁸ NIHR HPRU in Environmental Exposures and Health, Imperial College London, UK; Environmental Research Group, MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK. Electronic address: b.barratt@imperial.ac.uk.

PMID: 35817115
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157249

Abstract

Limited number of projects have attempted to partition and quantify indoor- and outdoor-generated PM_2.5 (PM_2.5^ig and PM_2.5^og) where strong indoor sources (e.g., solid fuel, tobacco smoke, or kerosene) exist. This study aimed to apply and refine a previous recursive model used to derive infiltration efficiency (F_inf) to additionally partition pollution concentrations into indoor and outdoor origins within residences challenged by elevated ambient and indoor combustion-related sources. During the winter of 2016 and summer of 2017 we collected residential measurements in 72 homes in urban and peri-urban Beijing, 12 of which had additional paired residential outdoor measurements during the summer season. Local ambient measurements were collected throughout. We then compared the calculated PM_2.5^ig and using (i) outdoor and (ii) ambient measurements as model inputs. The results from outdoor and ambient measurements were not significantly different, which suggests that ambient measurements can be used as a model input for pollution origin partitioning when paired outdoor measurements are not available. From the results calculated using ambient measurements, the mean percentage contribution of indoor-generated PM_2.5 was 19 % (σ = 22 %), and 7 % (11 %) of the total indoor PM_2.5 for peri-urban and urban homes respectively during the winter; and 18 % (18 %) and 6 % (10 %) of the total indoor PM_2.5 during the summer. Partitioning pollution into PM_2.5^ig and PM_2.5^og is important to allow investigation of distinct associations between health outcomes and particulate mixes, often with different physiochemical composition and toxicity. It will also inform targeted interventions that impact indoor and outdoor sources of pollution (e.g., domestic fuel switching vs. power generation), which are typically radically different in design and implementation.

Keywords: Air pollution; Indoor air; Indoor origin; Indoor-generated PM(2.5); Low-and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs); Solid fuel.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution, Indoor* / analysis
Beijing
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Particle Size
Particulate Matter / analysis
Seasons

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter

Grants and funding

MR/S019669/1/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom