Recently, indoor air quality (IAQ) in workplace, residence, and schools has been one of the major concerns of people, scientists and the related public. This study was performed to investigate the characteristics of indoor air quality(IAQ) in kindergartens, elementary school, middle schools, and high schools from June 2004 to May 2005 in Korea. We measured indoor air pollutants such as PM10, CO2, formaldehyde, total bacteria colony(TBC), CO, radon, total volatile organic compounds(TVOCs), asbestos, and O3 from school classrooms. The subjects were classified by building year based on the time span of 1, 1 - 3, 3 - 5, and 5 - 10 years. The levels of pollutants and physical factor in schools were compared with standards and guidelines of indoor air quality on the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Education, and Human Resources Development of Korea. The major results obtained from this study can be summarized as follows. Asbestos and O3 were not detected in all surveyed classrooms. However, we were able to detect CO, TBC, TVOCs, and formaldehyde in kindergartens, TBC in elementary schools, TBC, TVOCs and formaldehyde in middle schools, and formaldehyde in high schools. This study was conducted to provide a basis for the management IAQ in school. Therefore, we suggest that a national plan for the management of IAQ in school should be established through a long-term, continuous investigation for the proper assessment of IAQ in school and for the health risk assessment for student.

In this study, the paint, which has very close relationship to the of indoor air quality, was examined for the air pollution leveling test, and using the various passive sampler, the test was evaluated on the regard of TWA(Time Weighted Average). This study is to examine how the air pollution levels differ between the regular paint that is used for public and the new developed environment friendly paint. The consecutive experiments were performed in the small chamber test to investigate the VOCs and formaldehyde, ammonia emissions and characteristics from paint which are commonly used as the complete material of building. In conclustion, the natural paint showed the highest emission of VOCs among the selected paints, and water paint showed the highest contents of ammonia. Formaldehyde showed N.D(Not Detected) in most of tests and found a small amount in vinyl paint however, it was not as bad as to fail the certify level of building materials. It is recommended to constantly develop the chamber system and it will be very much possible to be used for the estimation of indoor air pollutants from the various paints and other complete materials.

This study was carried out to investigate the presence of L. pneumophila in indoor air and water collected from 692 air conditioning cooling towers at different public facilities. For these 4 years (2001～2004) of investigation, water samples were collected in high air conditioner operating month (from July to September) at department stores, hotels, offices, hospitals, discount stores, and public agencies. It was found that L. pneumophila was present in water samples from 47 air conditioning cooling towers. The detection rate of L. pneumophila was 7.6% in 2001, 10.7% in 2002, and 9.5% in 2003, respectively. When we compared the 4 air conditioner operating months, the highest rate of L. pneumophila detection was obtained in the water samples of July. The detection rate of L. pneumophila differed among different facilities. The highest detection rate of 17.9% was found in samples from department stores. L. pneumophila was detected similarly in water samples from hospitals (8.3%) and offices (8.2%). pH, temperature, and turbidity in the 47 L. pneumophila positive water samples ranged from pH 7 to 9, from 25℃ to 38℃, and from 1.0 to 3.5, respectively.

Nowadays, cremation is becoming generalized and also the frequency of utilization of cremation is increasing in Korea. Futhermore, there is a possibility that indoor air pollution is caused by particles, gas pollutants or microbial pollutants from laying down and cremation of corpses, and also the bereaved family and grievers inside the crematory. Therefore, the major goals in this study were that first, we investigated and analyzed the air quality of particular indoor environments such as the crematory. Second, we assessed the health risk for workers. Finally, we collected and assessed the basic data in special indoor environments because this kind of study had not been performed. We sampled and analyzed PM10 (heavy metal), VOCS, HCHO, infectious microorganisms to grasp the characteristics of indoor air quality in the crematory through sampling four times from 7th July to 16th October in 2004. Besides, we did personal air sampling of PM10 (heavy metal) and VOCS to grasp personal exposure of workers from indoor hazardous air pollutants. We conjectured that main sources of pollutants in crematory are cremation, buried corpses, and moving of grievers, also increasing the seriousness of microbial pollutants gathering strength, especially. As we assessed infectious microorganisms of indoor air and executed research for indoor hazardous air pollutants, we want to offer the way of study and policy of management for particular indoor environments like a crematory.

This paper describes to evaluate the performance of ventilation as a change of CO2 concentration with ventilation rate under 35 occupants in a school classroom. Variations of the CO2 concentration as a function of time are measured at center point of classroom with air ventilation rates by the CO2 gas monitor. For 800 m3/h of ventilation rate in the classroom, the average CO2 concentration is 913 ppm. The ventilation rate is sufficient to meet acceptable indoor air quality (≤ 1,000 ppm of CO2, KS school standard) in the classroom of 35 students.

We gathered exposure data on indoor air pollution, and investigated the dose-response slope factor for indoor air pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds, aldehydes and radon. Population cancer risks (that is the theoretical cancer deaths) were estimated from exposure to the pollutants. In addition, the damage costs, due to their risks, were estimated using WTP (willingness to pay) and VSL (value of a statistical life), which were investigated by a dichotomous contingent valuation method (DCVM). As a priority for human health risks and damage costs, management strategies are required for both radon and formaldehyde as indoor air pollutants. When the numeric results of human risks and damage costs are applied for other purposes, some assumptions and uncertainties have to be considered to use the results as useful screening tools for the administration of practical risk-based priorities.

This study was performed to investigate the characteristics of indoor air quality (IAQ) in 30 public facilities from February to April, 2004 in Seoul. The collected samples are PM10, formaldehyde, and total suspended bacteria in indoor air and measured by the IAQ standard method of Ministry of Environment in Korea(M.E.K). As the results of the survey, the mean concentration of PM10 was 55.19 ㎍/m3 in indoor air and 51.15 ㎍/m3 in outdoor air. The mean concentration of PM10 in the Kindergarten was higher than the IAQ standards by established by M.E.K. The mean concentration of formaldehyde was 43.08 ㎍/m3 in indoor air and 5.05 ㎍/m3 in outdoor air, respectively. All of them were less than IAQ standards of Korea. The concentration of total suspended bacteria in the streamer room was higher than IAQ standards. The concentration of formaldehyde was different according to the year of construction of building. Total suspended bacteria in streamer room was necessary for control. Moreover, this study was for investigation a part of indoor air pollution condition in public facilities. It means that this study can't represent for all of public facilities. Therefore, we suggest that long and middle term country plan for management of IAQ should be established through long-term and continuous investigation of IAQ condition.

The work of hairdressers includes washing, coloring, bleaching, permanent waving, conditioning, and cutting scalp hair. Hairdressers are subjected to a number of physical and toxicological hazards. The toxicological hazards are those resulting from exposure to a wide range of chemicals and from chemicals are usually classified active processes. In this study, twenty beauty shops were selected to assess the exposure to indoor air pollutants such as VOCs and particulate matter (PM10) during one month from September 1 to September 30, 2003. Indoor air quality of beauty shops might be worse by vehicle emissions because the beauty shops were generally located near roadway. Personal exposures to VOCs and PM10 were related to indoor concentrations of beauty shops, respectively. According to questionnaire, hairdressers responded sore throat, eye irritation, and nervousness as health effect symptoms. Conclusively, users as well as workers in beauty shop might be highly exposed to air pollutants from indoor sources and outdoor sources. Therefore, proper methods should be prepared to improve the indoor air quality in beauty shop.

Currently, Ministry of Environment has promulgated and executed 'the legislation of indoor air quality for public facilities' but the data of indoor air pollutant for public facilities of this law was very insufficient. Therefore, collection of data for indoor air pollutants and execution for risk assessment in order to offer scientific data for decision-making of policy to present reasonable standards and preventive techniques of engineering were required. Therefore, this study collected and re-analysed the articles of exposure assessment for indoor environment in journals related environment in Korea since 1990 and estimated the safety factor on residents in public facilities. The objective of this study was to offer scientific data for decision-making of policy for improvement and management of indoor air quality in Korea. As the results of this study, the risk assessment for the critical pollutants in CTE (central tendency exposure) showed that safety factors according to pollutants were less than 1 which means safe level in micro-environments. It was investigated that the safety factors of CO in hospital, NO2 in terminal, PM10 and NO2 in subway station respectively were over than 1 in RME (reasonable maximum exposure). Through the results, it was investigated that health risk by inhalation of criteria and guideline air pollutants in domestic public facilities was not high. It should be considered effect of inhalation by other hazardous air pollutants because this study was examined just partial pollutants. Presentation of scientific data for expansion of study is requisite and active research of health risk assessment about indoor air quality.

Recently, concern about Sick House Syndrome (SHS) has been increased in Korea. And it is suspected that formaldehyde (HCHO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are major factors for SHS. This study was surveyed the indoor air quality in new apartments in Korea. The HCHO and VOCs were measured at 90 sites and analysed by HPLC-UV and GC/MS, respectively. The range of HCHO concentrations at 90 sites were 9.39∼248.78㎍/㎥ and the mean value 105.41㎍/㎥ and the concentrations of HCHO at 42 sites (46.7%) exceeded the indoor air quality guideline (100㎍/㎥) in Japan. Among the 4 VOCs, toluene concentrations were the highest and the mean value 127.33㎍/㎥ and that concentrations at 12 sites (13.8%) were exceeded the indoor air quality guideline (260㎍/㎥) in Japan. There was a tendency which the longer the movement and measurement period is, the more the pollutants concentration is decreased. HCHO and VOCs concentrations of domestic results was similar to Japan's survey results in 2000.

There has recently become one of the major concern expressed the general public and regulation agencies concerning health risks associated with indoor air pollution in Korea. A new indoor air quality program under "Legislation of Indoor Air Quality Management for Public Facilities" is enforced to act on the end of May, 2004 by the Korea Ministry of Environment. The purposes of this article were to discuss the sustainable development of indoor air pollution and to strengthen the importance of the sustainability of indoor air quality. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability future generations to meet their own needs and a new theory that grew out of the conservation / environmental movement of the 1970's. While the conservation/environmental movement asked questions about preserving the Earth's resources, sustainable development includes questions about how human decisions affect the Earth's environment. Sustainable development of environmental pollution has been discussed over the last 20 year in most countries, but an important health problems of indoor air pollution became a social issues in recent years. We must develop global perspectives and maintain effective balance between available resources and human needs. The further understanding of the sustainable development of indoor air pollution is extremely useful in defining the components of healthful indoor air in major indoor environments. Additional information concerning more detailed housing characteristics, daily activity patterns, and seasonal factors which may influence indoor pollutants should provide important information on sustainable development in indoor air pollution.

실내 공기질의 오염이 점차 심각해짐에 따라 실내 공기질 개선을 위한 다양한 연구와 관련 제도가 점차 도입되고 있다. 그러나 실내 공기질 개선에 사용되는 기성 제품들은 높은 휘산성으로 인해 장기적인 포름알데히드 농도 저감에는 큰 효과를 나타내지 않고 있으며, 이에 따른 장기적인 포름알데히드의 방출에 대한 유효성 검증이 불분명한 실정이다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 콘크리트에 적용 가능한 실내 공기질 개선을 위한 기능성 물질을 선정하기 위하여 시공성능, 압축강도 및 포름알데히드 농도 변화를 측정하였으며, 그 결과 기능성 물질의 종류에 관계없이 모두 시공성능 및 압축강도를 일반 콘크리트(모르타르)와 동등 수준을 확보하였다. 또한 기능성 물질의 화학작용으로 인하여 포름알데히드의 농도 저감이 가능한 것으로 나타나 향후 실내 공기질 개선을 위해 기능성 물질의 사용이 가능할 것으로 사료된다.

The final goal of this research is to develop a botanical biofiltration system, which combines green interior, biofiltering, and automatic irrigation, which can purify indoor air pollutants according to indoor space and the size of biofilter. The biofilter used in this experiment was designed as an integral form of water metering pump, water tank, blower, humidifier, and multi-level planting space in order to be more suitable for indoor space utilization. This study was performed to compare indoor air quality between the space adjacent to a botanical biofilter and the space away from the biofilter (control) without generation of artificial indoor air pollutants, and to evaluate plant growth depending on multiple floors within the biofilter. Each concentration of indoor air pollutants such as TVOCs, monoxide, and dioxide in the space treated with the biofilter was lower than that of control. Dracaena sanderiana ‘Vitoria’ and Epipremnum aureum ‘N Joy’ also showed normal growth responses regardless of multiple floors within the biofilter. Hence, it was confirmed that the wall-typed botanical biofilter suitable for indoor plants was effective for indoor air purification.

This study was carried out to investigate the formaldehyde (FA) filtration pattern of additional media for indoor biofilter system. Dry pellet type activated carbon (PAC), activated clay (ACL), zeolite, diatomite, pumice and loess ceramic ball were tested. In the case of dry filter media, formaldehyde purification efficiency was the most excellent with activated clay and then was good with the activated carbon, diatomite, zeolite, and pumice order. PAC and ACL decreased the FA concentration with exponential pattern resulted from dynamic balance between emission and purification. Zeolite, diatomite, pumice, and loess ceramic ball showed high filtration rate at initial time and then increased FA concentration result from breakthrough. PAC, zeolite and diatomite could be recommended as additional filter media for biofilter system considering FA filtration and breakthrough characteristics. FA filtration and breakthrough characteristics were improved with wet media except PAC and ACL. In particular, purification performance improvement and breakthrough mitigation were higher in pumice and loess ceramic balls. PAC+ZEO mixing showed the most high purification performance and breakthrough mitigation in all mixing methods. Thus mixture of PAC with zeolite and vertical mixing could be recommended as additional filter media to improve the FA purification ability and pressure drop with indoor air biofilter system.

In recent, many researches are in progress to improve the indoor air quality. So, we proposed the specified concrete mixed with functional materials. In order to evaluate the performance of functional concrete, the mechanical properties, durability and the change in formaldehyde concentration were compared. According to the results, the specified concrete compared to normal concrete, showed similar levels in terms of mechanical properties and durability, while its effect of reducing concentrations of formaldehyde was notably efficient.

To date, carbon and nitrogen co-doped photocatalysts (CN-TiO2) for environmental application focused mainly on the aqueous phase to investigate the decomposition of water pollutants. Accordingly, the present study explored the photocatalytic performance of CN-TiO2 photocatalysts for the purification of indoor-level gas-phase aromatic species under different operational conditions. The characteristics of prepared photocatalysts were investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning emission microscope, diffuse reflectance UV-VIS-NIR analysis, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis. In most cases, the decomposition efficiency for the target compounds exhibited a decreasing trend as input concentration (IC) increased. Specifically, the average decomposition efficiencies for benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene (BTEX) over a 3-h process decreased from 29% to close to zero, 80 to 5%, 95 to 19%, and 99 to 32%, respectively, as the IC increased from 0.1 to 2.0 ppm. The decomposition efficiencies obtained from the CN-TiO2 photocatalytic system were higher than those of the TiO2 system. As relative humidity (RH) increased from 20 to 95%, the decomposition efficiencies for BTEX decreased from 39 to 5%, 97 to 59%, 100 to 87%, and 100 to 92%, respectively. In addition, as the stream flow rates (SFRs) decreased from 3.0 to 1.0 L min-1, the average efficiencies for BTEX increased from 0 to 58%, 63 to 100%, 69 to 100%, and 68 to 100%, respectively. Taken together, these findings suggest that three (IC, RH, and SFR) should be considered for better BTEX decomposition efficiencies when applying CN-TiO2 photocatalytic technology to purification of indoor air BTEX.

The elevator is needed healthy and comfortable indoor air quality (IAQ) for using many people, but we found nothing about IAQ studies of an elevator. In general, air in the elevator car is sucked from the elevator’s hoistway straight into the car using a fan. The air sucked into the hoistway may be filled with dust, mold and bacteria. This study was performed to measure of characteristics of indoor air quality (PM10, falling bacteria, CO2, Rn and HCHO) in elevator`s hoistway, CAR and lobby of 8 sites (4 apartments and 4 commercial buildings) in Gyeongnam from May, 2010 to January, 2011. With regards to the differences of pollutant distribution among hoistway, CAR, and lobby, the concentration of Rn and HCHO were the highest in hoistway followed by CAR and lobby, and PM10, falling bacteria and CO2 were the highest in CAR followed by hoistway and lobby. Mean concentrations of PM10 were 104.9 μg/m3 in CAR, 92.3 μg/m3 in hoistway and 68.2 μg/m3 in lobby, respectively.

Perceived air quality (PAQ) is defined as evaluation of indoor air satisfaction and comfortable sensory by occupants. However, there are differences between criteria of indoor pollutants and lowest sensory thresholds. In this study, we compared indoor PAQ by questionnaire with measured benzene, toluene and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations in home indoors. The NO2 concentration was the highest in Seoul, while benzene and toluene were the highest in Asan. Average PAQ score in winter was higher than that in summer. Significant correlations between PAQs of home indoor air pollution and measured pollutant concentrations were not shown and correlation coefficients (r) ranged between -0.453<r<0.258. Several groups have been divided to analyze what may affect PAQ scores such as gender, city, home indoor smoking, passive smoking, and self-reported respiratory symptoms. Gender, city, and self-reported respiratory symptoms by indoor air quality were associated with high PAQ scores by using of logistic regression analysis. We are confirmed that no association between concentrations of home indoor pollutant and PAQ scores. Therefore we further need to develop new indicator indoor air pollutants, measurement, and evaluation by PAQ.