A modeling study of the impact of photolysis on indoor air quality

The importance of photolysis as an initiator of air chemistry outdoors is widely recognized, but its role in chemical processing indoors is often ignored. This paper uses recent experimental data to modify a detailed chemical model, using it to investigate the impacts of glass type, artificial indoo...

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Published inIndoor air Vol. 32; no. 6; pp. e13054 - n/a
Main Authors Wang, Zixu, Shaw, David, Kahan, Tara, Schoemaecker, Coralie, Carslaw, Nicola
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Malden Hindawi Limited 01.06.2022
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Subjects
Air quality
artificial lights
Atmospheric chemistry
attenuated sunlight
Fluorescence
Formaldehyde
Free radicals
Hydroxyl radicals
indoor air chemistry
indoor air model
Indoor air pollution
Indoor air quality
Indoor environments
indoor photolysis
Nitrogen dioxide
Nitrogen oxides
Nitrous acid
Original
Photochemicals
Photolysis
Wavelengths
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Summary:The importance of photolysis as an initiator of air chemistry outdoors is widely recognized, but its role in chemical processing indoors is often ignored. This paper uses recent experimental data to modify a detailed chemical model, using it to investigate the impacts of glass type, artificial indoor lighting, cloudiness, time of year and latitude on indoor photolysis rates and hence indoor air chemistry. Switching from an LED to an uncovered fluorescent tube light increased predicted indoor hydroxyl radical concentrations by ~13%. However, moving from glass that transmitted outdoor light at wavelengths above 380 nm to one that transmitted sunlight above 315 nm led to an increase in predicted hydroxyl radicals of more than 400%. For our studied species, including ozone, nitrogen oxides, nitrous acid, formaldehyde, and hydroxyl radicals, the latter were most sensitive to changes in indoor photolysis rates. Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde were largely invariant, with exchange with outdoors and internal deposition controlling their indoor concentrations. Modern lights such as LEDs, together with low transmission glasses, will likely reduce the effects of photolysis indoors and the production of potentially harmful species. Research is needed on the health effects of different indoor air mixtures to confirm this conclusion.
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ISSN:0905-6947
1600-0668
DOI:10.1111/ina.13054