Evaluation of indoor particulate matter and associated PAHs during the winter season in Northern India: A comprehensive impact of regional appearances

Abstract

As population around the world is spending approximately 90% of their time indoors, monitoring of indoor air pollutants and their successive health risk assessment has become a prominent area of research and expertise. This paper puts forward the study conducted in a typical Indian city, Lucknow from November 2021 to February 2022 in three microenvironments namely industrial, commercial and residential. The study targets indoor air quality with an equivalent assessment of outdoor air quality as an analogy for proper evaluation. The study initiated with a questionnaire survey which was principally conducted to assess the impact of indoor air quality on children's health. On the basis of the survey result six households from three microenvironment were selected for both indoor and outdoor monitoring of PM>2.5, PM2.5, PM1.0-2.5, PM0.50-1.0, PM0.25-0.50 and PM<0.25, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with PM2.5. A remarkable powerful connection between Fluorene and Phenanthrene was obtained in residential households, which may be imputed to their release from combustion of oil, coal, wood, and other organic matter. Moreover, the incremental health risk assessment was performed on children with different age groups. The results obtained for all age group were high as compared to the USEPA standard prescribed for ILCR, however, children aged 1 to 3 years were evaluated to be most vulnerable among all. The outcomes of this study will be the first step in providing a superior understanding about the quality of air in a plethora of microenvironments. This would further aid to get an insight into the ill impacts of sub-micron particles with a better understanding to frame new guidelines for possible regulations.