Indoor Air Pollution: Sources, Effects, Monitoring, Control and Modeling

ABOUT THE COURSE: Air pollution is a very serious problem. While most courses target outdoor air pollution, this course will focus on Indoor Air Pollution, a very important current topic. Course will cover the types of indoor air pollutants, sources of these pollutants, their effects, measures for control, and indoor air quality modeling.INTENDED AUDIENCE: Students (PG and senior UG).Working professionals in field of environmental engineering and air pollution, and its control.Junior scientists and engineers of pollution control boards.Non-engineering background executives of private industries dealing with air pollution and its control.Non-engineering background executives from governmental agencies such as pollution control boards and other state/national bodies, those who are dealing with or are interested in air pollution and its control.Senior level scientistsRegulators and policy makers from ministry and other professional and governmental bodies.PREREQUISITES: Basic physics, chemistry, mathematics (class 10 to 12 level)INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Public sector power unitsIron & Steel, and other manufacturing industriesMining sector

Week 1: Indoor air pollutants, sources and causes: Homes / Residential Environment (cooking, cleaning, occupancy, etc.); offices and schools, other commercial establishments such as saloons, fitness centers and restaurants.

Week 2:Outdoor air as source to indoor air: physical and chemical processes, inflow of gas and particles, exfiltration, ventilation and ventilation systems. Mechanisms of the infiltration of outdoor pollutants.

Week 3:Effects of indoor air pollution; Sick building Syndrome; Case studies.

Week 4:Chemical kinetics: collision theory, rates of reactions. Important chemical reactions in indoor air. Difference from indoor air. Reactions on surfaces.

Week 5:Bioaerosol/Biological particles in indoor atmosphere. Properties and sinks. Environmental factors controlling bioaerosol concentrations (e.g., relative humidity, temperature, ventilation, occupancy).

Week 6:Constructing and solving of simple mass balance models of indoor air pollution. Understanding fate using concepts of half-lives and persistence/residence times. Introduction to CONTAM, a free software on indoor air quality and ventilation analysis.

Week 7:Indoor and outdoor air as contributor to human exposure. Method/Models for human exposure (e.g. using time-activity information) and risk assessment.

Week 8:Indoor air pollution monitoring (physic-chemical): sampling and analysis methods, and instrumentations.

Week 9:Indoor air pollution monitoring (biological): sampling and analysis methods, and instrumentations.

Week 10:Indoor air pollution/quality in the Indian context. Information on indoor air pollution by habitat, locations. Key messages and gaps.

Week 11:Indoor air quality guidelines and standards for controlling factors (e.g. ventilation, temperature) as per various agencies such as WHO, OSHA, EPA.

Week 12:Indoor air pollution control methods. Practices and case studies.