Impacts of Cleaning on Indoor Air Quality: Regular versus 'Green' Cleaning Products

Ellen Harding-Smith*, Catherine O'Leary, Marvin Shaw, Nicola Carslaw, Helen Davies, Terry Dillon, Archit Mehra, Gavin Phillips, Benjamin Jones, Lei Ye

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) were measured from commercially available regular and green household cleaning products by dynamic headspace selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS). The calculated emission rates were then used to simulate cleaning activities using the INdoor CHEMical model (INCHEM-Py). Results showed perturbation of oxidant and radical concentrations (86-96% O3, 98-100% OH depletion), and an increase in formaldehyde concentrations following cleaning. Terpene emissions from cleaning products can influence the indoor air chemistry and resulting secondary pollutant formation. The regular and green cleaning products were both large sources of monoterpenes, and use of either perturbs indoor air quality.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, INDOOR AIR 2022
PublisherInternational Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2022
Event17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate - Kuopio, Finland
Duration: 12 Jun 202216 Jun 2022
Conference number: 17

Conference

Conference17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate
Abbreviated titleINDOOR AIR 2022
Country/TerritoryFinland
CityKuopio
Period12/06/2216/06/22

Keywords

  • Cleaning products
  • Emissions
  • indoor air chemistry
  • Indoor Air Model
  • VOC

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