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Abstract:
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The use of cleaning products can lead to indoor concentrations of toxic air contaminants above regulatory levels . Studies show that the use of cleaning products is related to adverse respiratory health effects in adults ranging from irritation to asthma . Yet exposure to these chemicals is poorly understood . This thesis summarizes the current state of knowledge of inhalation exposure to toxic chemicals in consumer cleaning products . A new two -compartment model that treats personal air space as distinct from bulk room air is presented . The model accounts for air exchange between the two compartments and fresh air , dynamic source characteristics (i .e . , the time -varying liquid concentrations and emission rates of pollutants within a mixture ) , the characteristics of chemical use (e .g . , how frequently a cleaning chemical is applied to a new area ) , and reactive chemistry with ozone . The model’s applicability is restricted by limited data available for parameterization . Key components that are missing include composition data for consumer cleaning products and activity patterns . Extensive effort went into calculating the air exchange rate between the two zones .
Twelve computational fluid dynamic simulations and two model scenarios were completed . The predicted concentration in the inner -zone (Cin ) was divided by the room concentration predicted by the traditional well -mixed model (Cwm ) . Concentration ratios (Cin /Cwm ) ranged from 1 .1 to 700 . In terms of real cleaning events , results indicate that the beginning (where the only emission source is near the person ) of events taking place in large indoor environments with high air exchange rates are the situations for which well -mixed models are most likely to fail in predicting actual exposures . |