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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #326896
Research Project: Developing Technologies that Enable Growth and Profitability in the Commercial Conversion of Sugarcane, Sweet Sorghum, and Energy Beets into Sugar, Advanced Biofuels, and Bioproducts

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: The micro-environmental impact of volatile organic compound emissions from large-scale assemblies of people in a confined space

Author
item DUTTA, TANUSHREE - Hanyang University
item KIM, KI-HYUN - Hanyang University
item Uchimiya, Sophie
item KUMAR, PAWAN - Indian Institute Of Technology
item DAS, SUBHASISH - Tezpur University
item BHATTACHARYA, SATYA - Tezpur University
item SZULEJKO, JAN - Hanyang University

Submitted to: Environmental Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/6/2016
Publication Date: 8/8/2016
Citation: Dutta, T., Kim, K.-H., Uchimiya, M., Kumar, P., Das, S., Bhattacharya, S.S., Szulejko, J. 2016. The micro-environmental impact of volatile organic compound emissions from large-scale assemblies of people in a confined space. Environmental Research. 151:304-312.

Interpretive Summary: Volatile organic air pollutants (VOCs) are becoming increasingly problematic especially in confined spaces including poultry/cattle house and agricultural commodity storage warehouse. This paper investigated sampling and detection techniques and statistical analysis methods to identify and utilize fingerprint VOCs to accurately assess the impact of VOCs in confined, concentrated, or overpopulated areas.

Technical Abstract: Large-scale assemblies of people in a con'ned space can exert signi'cant impacts on the local air chemistry due to human emissions of volatile organics. Variations of air-quality in such small scale can be studied by quantifying 'ngerprint volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as acetone, toluene, and isoprene produced during concerts, movie screenings, and sport events (like the Olympics and the World Cup). This review summarizes the extent of VOC accumulation resulting from a large population in a con'ned area or in a small open area during sporting and other recreational activities. Apart from VOCs emitted directly from human bodies (e.g., perspiration and exhaled breath), those released indirectly from other related sources (e.g., smoking, waste disposal, discharge of food-waste, and use of personal-care products) are also discussed. Although direct and indirect emissions of VOCs from human may constitute o1% of the global atmospheric VOCs budget, unique spatiotemporal variations in VOCs species within a con'ned space can have unforeseen impacts on the local atmosphere to lead to acute human exposure to harmful pollutants.