Estimating residential air exchange rates in rural Bangladesh using a near field-far field model

TY - JOUR

T1 - Estimating residential air exchange rates in rural Bangladesh using a near field-far field model

AU - Das, Darpan

AU - Moynihan, Emma

AU - Nicas, Mark

AU - McCollum, Eric D.

AU - Ahmed, Salahuddin

AU - Roy, Arunangshu D.

AU - Chowdhury, Nabidul

AU - Hanif, Abu A.M.

AU - Babik, Kelsey R.

AU - Baqui, Abdullah H.

AU - Ramachandran, Gurumurthy

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2021/12/1

Y1 - 2021/12/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Air changes per hour

KW - Cookstove

KW - Decay rate

KW - Exposure modeling

KW - Rural households

KW - Ventilation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114383933&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108325

DO - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108325

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85114383933

SN - 0360-1323

VL - 206

JO - Building and environment

JF - Building and environment

M1 - 108325

ER -