| Title: | Estimation of indoor air pollutant during photocopy/printing operation: a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based study |
| Author(s): | Nandan A; Siddiqui NA; Kumar P; |
| Address: | "University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India. abhisheknandan24@gmail.com. University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10653-020-00589-0 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1573-2983 (Electronic) 0269-4042 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Population form a homeostat with environment where they live and exchange continuous gas for their respiration, which is the primary pathway for the pollutants to enter into human metabolism. The pollution present indoor is due to multiple sources like electronic and electrical equipment, clothes, furniture and other anthropogenic activity. The concentration of these pollutants changes with time and depends mainly on source type (continuous/intermittent), time of the operation and release/ventilation/wind velocity/pollutant dispersion and anthropogenic activity. It has been observed that equipment like printers, printing machines, photocopiers, etc., releases several pollutants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ozone (O(3)), semi-volatile organic compounds, benzene (C(6)H(6)), toluene and suspended particulate matter during operation. This work represents the emissions of VOCs, benzene, and toluene during photocopy. The numerical validation of results was done using Fluent, which is an application-based software which helps in physical modeling describing air flow and effect of multiple parameter on it like temperature and no of printing/photocopy (in proposed experiment) with respect to time. It has been observed from the results that the emissions of VOCs, benzene, and toluene increase from 0.09 to 1.13 PPM, 0.17 to 1.87 PPM and 30 to 235 PPM, respectively, as the operating duration, temperature (35-40 degrees C) and rate of printing/photocopying increase (120-200/h), and it is because printer/photocopy machine uses heat and pressure to fix an image on the paper surface which subsequently result in higher emission. Multiple adverse health, safety and environmental impacts due to operation of photocopy/printing call for in-depth study, guidance, and monitoring of the workers occupationally associated with this operation for their well-being" |
| Keywords: | "Air Pollutants/analysis Air Pollution, Indoor/*analysis Benzene/analysis *Copying Processes Humans Hydrodynamics Occupational Exposure Particulate Matter/analysis Software Toluene/analysis Volatile Organic Compounds/*analysis Indoor air pollution Occupati;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineNandan, Abhishek Siddiqui, Nihal Anwar Kumar, Pankaj eng Netherlands 2020/05/15 Environ Geochem Health. 2020 Nov; 42(11):3543-3573. doi: 10.1007/s10653-020-00589-0. Epub 2020 May 13" |
