Impact of the urban pollution on the indoor environment - Experimental study on a mechanical ventilated dwelling

Overview & Synopsis

This study aims to assess the transfer of outdoor air pollution into an unoccupied dwelling in Paris area with heavy traffic during winter and summer periods. CO, SO2, NO, NO2, O3, BTEX, PM 2.5, black smoke index were monitored simultaneously indoors and outdoors. The indoor/outdoor relationships have been studied regarding ventilation strategies and indoor surface impact. Results show that a reduction of the average daily concentrations of NO (7-30%), SO2 (33-41%), O3 (80%), PM 2.5 (20%) and black smoke (20%) is observed indoors in reference to outdoors. The inert gas CO is integrally transferred. NO2 shows no apparent difference between outdoor and indoor daily concentrations but the I/O ratio can be significantly above one in summer (high reactivity between NO and O3). In the presence of sorbing material, indoor concentrations of SO2, O3 and NO2 show a reduction of 75%, 90 % and 30% (in winter only for NO2) compared to outdoors.