The general ventilation multipliers calculated by using a standard Near-Field/Far-Field model

• Published in: Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene Vol. 15; no. 5; pp. D38 - D43
• Main Authors: Koivisto, Antti J, Jensen, Alexander C Ø, Koponen, Ismo K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 04.05.2018
• Subjects: exposure modeling; Advanced REACH Tool; Near-Field/Far-Field model; Stoffenmanager
• ISSN: 1545-9624; 1545-9632
• DOI: 10.1080/15459624.2018.1440084

In conceptual exposure models, the transmission of pollutants in an imperfectly mixed room is usually described with general ventilation multipliers. This is the approach used in the Advanced REACH Tool (ART) and Stoffenmanager® exposure assessment tools. The multipliers used in these tools were reported by Cherrie (1999; http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/104732299302530 ) and Cherrie et al. (2011; http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/annhyg/mer092 ) who developed them by positing input values for a standard Near-Field/Far-Field (NF/FF) model and then calculating concentration ratios between NF and FF concentrations. This study revisited the calculations that produce the multipliers used in ART and Stoffenmanager and found that the recalculated general ventilation multipliers were up to 2.8 times (280%) higher than the values reported by Cherrie (1999) and the recalculated NF and FF multipliers for 1-hr exposure were up to 1.2 times (17%) smaller and for 8-hr exposure up to 1.7 times (41%) smaller than the values reported by Cherrie et al. (2011). Considering that Stoffenmanager and the ART are classified as higher-tier regulatory exposure assessment tools, the errors is general ventilation multipliers should not be ignored. We recommend revising the general ventilation multipliers. A better solution is to integrate the NF/FF model to Stoffenmanager and the ART.