| Title: | Quantitative filter forensics with residential HVAC filters to assess indoor concentrations |
| Author(s): | Givehchi R; Maestre JP; Bi C; Wylie D; Xu Y; Kinney KA; Siegel JA; |
| Address: | "Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1600-0668 (Electronic) 0905-6947 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Analysis of the dust from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) filters is a promising long-term sampling method to characterize airborne particle-bound contaminants. This filter forensics (FF) approach provides valuable insights about differences between buildings, but does not allow for an estimation of indoor concentrations. In this investigation, FF is extended to quantitative filter forensics (QFF) by using measurements of the volume of air that passes through the filter and the filter efficiency, to assess the integrated average airborne concentrations of total fungal and bacterial DNA, 36 fungal species, endotoxins, phthalates, and organophosphate esters (OPEs) based on dust extracted from HVAC filters. Filters were collected from 59 homes located in central Texas, USA, after 1 month of deployment in each summer and winter. Results showed considerable differences in the concentrations of airborne particle-bound contaminants in studied homes. The airborne concentrations for most of the analytes are comparable with those reported in the literature. In this sample of homes, the HVAC characterization measurements varied much less between homes than the variation in the filter dust concentration of each analyte, suggesting that even in the absence of HVAC data, FF can provide insight about concentration differences for homes with similar HVAC systems" |
| Keywords: | "Air Conditioning/instrumentation Air Filters/*microbiology Air Microbiology Air Pollution, Indoor/*analysis DNA, Bacterial/analysis Dust/*analysis Endotoxins/analysis Environmental Monitoring/*methods Fungi/isolation & purification Heating/instrumentation;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineGivehchi, Raheleh Maestre, Juan P Bi, Chenyang Wylie, Dennis Xu, Ying Kinney, Kerry A Siegel, Jeffrey A eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. England 2019/01/10 Indoor Air. 2019 May; 29(3):390-402. doi: 10.1111/ina.12536. Epub 2019 Feb 1" |
