Abstract

Indoor air quality is a growing concern in the world. People spend a considerable amount of time in indoor environments such as homes, workplaces, shopping malls, stores and places of worships such as churches, temples and mosques. Most often incense burning takes place in places of worship which are enclosed spaces full of worshippers. Incense burning releases pollutants such as particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds. Exposure to these kinds of pollutants can result in adverse health effects. The purpose of this research is to determine the particulate matter and carbon monoxide emission factors (EFs) from incense stick burning. A test chamber with a rectangular exhaust duct, a fan to exhaust air with pollutants in it and pollutant sensors were used to achieve the project goals. Several experiments were performed with different cases/ scenarios to accurately estimate the EFs and several test runs were conducted for each case to test the repeatability of the results. EFs for CO (mass), PM2.5 (mass), PM2.5 (number), PM10 (mass), PM10 (number) were developed in this research which should help in (a) assessing exposures, (b) designing ventilation systems and (c) assessing potential health risks.

Keywords: Carbon monoxide emission; Pollutant; Pollution