The emission of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a motor vehicle painting booth was quantitatively evaluated. Most particulate matter was emitted during the spraying process, in which the PM10 concentration was 16.5 times higher than that of the drying process. When the paint was being sprayed, the particles with a diameter of 1.0~2.5 μm accounted for 39.4% and particles greater than 2.5 μm in diameter accounted for 30.6% of total particles. On the other hand, small particles less than 0.5 μm in diameter accounted for 52.4% of total particles during the drying process. In contrast to the particulate matter, high concentrations of VOCs were emitted during both spraying and drying processes. Butyl acetate, xylene, toluene, and m-ethyltoluene were the most abundant VOCs emitted from the motor vehicle painting booth. Additionally, xylene, butyl acetate, toluene, and 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene were the dominant ozone precursors. Especially, xylene exhibited the highest ozone production contribution (32.5~44.4%) among 34 species of the ozone precursors. The information obtained in this study can be used to establish a suitable management strategy for air pollutants from motor vehicle painting booths.

Studies on the indoor air quality inside newly producted vehicle have made mainly mention of the concentrations for indoor air pollutants or of subjective symptoms, such as irritated eyes and nose, headache and dizziness. That is, there has been no report about how poor indoor air quality inside newly producted vehicle affects vehicle drivers. We measured the indoor air pollutants inside newly producted vehicle and evaluated the neurobehavioral performance of drivers, using a computerized neurobehavioral test (color word vigilance), between a newly producted and a 11-year-old vehicle. Inside the newly producted vehicle, the formaldehyde concentration with closed window was 19.1㎍/m³. The concentration of VOCs with closed window was 3.9㎍/m³ for benzene, 316.7㎍/m³ for toluene, 20.5㎍/m³ for ethylbenzene, 47.7㎍/m³ for m,p-xylene, 15.1㎍/m³ for o-xylene, and 15.3㎍/m³ for styrene. The neurobehavioral performance of drivers inside newly producted vehicle with the computerized neurobehavioral test was 11.05% lower than that for those inside 11-year-old control vehicle. These results suggest that the poor indoor air quality inside newly producted vehicle affects the neurobehavioral performance of driver and a proper evaluation of the indoor air quality inside newly producted vehicle is required into the health effects of pollutants with objective tool, in addition to the level of pollution.