Indoor Environmental Quality and Effectiveness of Portable Air Cleaners in Reducing Levels of Airborne Particles during Schools’ Reopening in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Florentina Villanueva, Fátima Felgueiras, Alberto Notario, Beatriz Cabañas and Marta Fonseca Gabriel ()
Additional contact information
Florentina Villanueva: Instituto de Investigación en Combustión y Contaminación Atmosférica, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Camino de Moledores s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Fátima Felgueiras: INEGI, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Campus da FEUP, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias 400, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Alberto Notario: Instituto de Investigación en Combustión y Contaminación Atmosférica, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Camino de Moledores s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Beatriz Cabañas: Instituto de Investigación en Combustión y Contaminación Atmosférica, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Camino de Moledores s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Marta Fonseca Gabriel: INEGI, Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Campus da FEUP, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias 400, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-19

Abstract: Educational buildings tend to fail in the contagion containment of airborne infectious diseases because of the high number of children, for several hours a day, inside enclosed environments that often have inadequate indoor air quality (IAQ) conditions. This study aimed to assess indoor environmental quality and test the effectiveness of portable air cleaners (PACs) in alleviating airborne particle levels in schools of Central–Southern Spain during the period of reopening after the lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak. To accomplish this, three sampling campaigns were organized from September to December 2020 to consistently monitor temperature and relative humidity, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter in nineteen classrooms (seven school buildings). Results showed that although the recommendation of maintaining the windows open throughout the day seemed to be effective in promoting, in general, proper ventilation conditions (based on CO 2 levels). For the colder campaigns, this practice caused notorious thermal comfort impairment. In addition, a great number of the surveyed classrooms presented levels of PM 2.5 and PM 10 , attributable to outdoor and indoor sources, which exceeded the current WHO guideline values. Moreover, considering the practice of having the windows opened, the installation of 1 unit of PACs per classroom was insufficient to ensure a reduction in particle concentration to safe levels. Importantly, it was also found that children of different ages at different education levels can be exposed to significantly different environmental conditions in their classrooms; thus, the corrective measures to employ in each individual educational setting should reflect the features and needs of the target space/building.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; particulate matter; portable air cleaners; school environment; ventilation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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