Source apportionment of indoor aerosols in Suffolk and Onondaga

Source apportionment of indoor aerosols in Suffolk and Onondaga counties, New York. Petros Koutrakis, Susan L. K. Briggs, and Brian P. Leaderer. Envir...
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Environ. Sci. Technol. 1992, 26, 521-527

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Received for review M a y 14, 1991. Revised manuscript received September 29, 1991. Accepted September 30, 1991. Partial support of this work by the Athens Environmental Research Laboratory is gratefully acknowledged. Although the research described i n this paper has been supported i n part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency through cooperative research agreement CR-814290-01 between the Colorado School of Mines and the Athens Environmental Research Laboratory of the E P A , it has not been subjected to Agency review and, therefore, does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency. No official endorsement should be inferred. Use of trade names does not imply endorsement but they are provided for descriptive purposes.

Source Apportionment of Indoor Aerosols in Suffolk and Onondaga Counties, New York Petros Koutrakis" and Susan L. K. Briggs School of Public Health, Harvard University, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02 115

Brian P. Leaderer John Pierce Foundation, Yale University, 290 Congress Street, New Haven, Connecticut 065 19

An indoor air quality study was conducted in two New York State counties. Week-long fine particle mass samples were collected indoors in 394 homes and outdoors in a subset of these homes. The aerosol samples were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence for 16 elements. Homes included in this study had one or more of the following sources: cigarette smoking, kerosene heaters, wood-burning stoves, and gas stoves. Homes with none of the above sources were also included. A simple physical model was used to ascertain the contribution of indoor and outdoor sources. Among the four investigated sources, cigarette smoking was found to be the most important source. Kerosene heaters were also important, but to a lesser extent. Gas stoves did not contribute to the observed indoor aerosol concentrations, yet other unknown indoor sources were significant contributors. The results of this study suggest that a simple physical model can be used to predict indoor fine-mass and elemental concentrations. Introduction

Assessment of total human exposures to airborne particles requires the knowledge of indoor pollutant concentrations for two primary reasons: (i) individuals spend a great fraction of their life indoors, especially in cold climates, and (ii) indoor pollutant concentrations can be significantly different from those outdoors. Indoor aerosol concentrations are associated with both indoor and outdoor air pollution sources. The identification of sources and the assessment of their relative contribution can be a complicated process due to the presence of a number of indoor sources, which can vary from building to building. In addition, there are uncertainties associated with estimating the impact of outdoor sources on the indoor environment. In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate the origin of indoor aerosols using results from an extensive indoor/outdoor aerosol monitoring program conducted in Onondaga and Suffolk Counties in New York State. Sampling and Analysis

During the-period of January 6 to April 15, 1986, an indoor air quality program was conducted in Onondaga 0013-936X/92/0926-0521$03.00/0

County and Suffolk County, NY. Suffolk County is located on eastern Long Island, east of New York City. Onondaga County is situated in northwestern New York State and includes the city of Syracuse. Week-long fine particle mass samples were collected indoors in 394 homes; outdoor sampling was conducted a t a subset of homes in each county. Homes were selected according to their potential indoor aerosol sources such as cigarette smokers, gas stoves, wood-burning stoves or fireplaces, and kerosene heaters. The fine particle mass measurements were obtained using the Harvard impactor, which collects fine particles with aerodynamic diameters of