Indoor air quality in a home improvement store: gaseous pollutants, bioburden and particle-bound chemical constituents

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of indoor and outdoor air quality within a home improvement and gardening store chain in northeastern Portugal. In December 2021 and January 2022, two multipollutant systems were installed in the store and outdoors to assess air quality. Continuous monitoring included particulate matter below 10 µm (PM10), CO2, and comfort parameters. PM10 samples were collected using gravimetric samplers during both occupied and vacant periods. These samples were then analysed for carbonaceous constituents and metal(loid)s. Additionally, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbonyls, bacteria, and fungi were passively sampled. Results showed higher indoor concentrations of PM10 during labour hours (45.4 ± 15.2 μg/m3), while outdoor values of 27.1 ± 9.96 μg/m3 were recorded. The elemental characterisation of PM10 revealed a high abundance of soil-related elements indoors, suggesting that resuspension is one of the primary sources. The most abundant elements were Ca, Fe, and Zn, with concentrations of 658 ± 297, 273 ± 141, and 172 ± 67.4 ng/m³, respectively. Outdoors, elements related to tyre and brake wear, and road dust were predominant, indicating emissions from non-exhaust traffic emissions as the main source. A prevalence of α-pinene, limonene, and hexanal was found indoors, most likely related to wood products. Fungi with clinical relevance toxigenic potential and higher bacterial loads were observed in the gardening and heating sectors of the store. This study underscores the importance of investigating less-studied stores, as they may exhibit pollutant levels that exceed health protection thresholds.

Description

The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CESAM (UID Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e Mar (CESAM) + LA/P/0094/2020), to SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2020), to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020), to CeDRI (UIDB/05757/2020 and UIDP/05757/2020) and also financial support to PhD fellow students Leonardo Furst (SFRH/BD/08461/2020) and Yago Cipoli (SFRH/BD/04992/2021). H&TRC authors gratefully acknowledge the FCT/MCTES national support through the UIDB/05608/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/05608/2020) and UIDP/05608/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDP/05608/2020). This study was also supported by FCT through the project “Air Pollution in an African Megacity: Source Apportionment and Health Implications” (APAM, DOI: 10.54499/2022.04240.PTDC).

Keywords

Indoor air Air quality Retail store IAQ PM10 VOCS Volatile organic compounds Bioburden

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/21746

Citation

Furst L, Cipoli Y, Yubero E, Galindo N, Viegas C, Dias M, et al. Indoor air quality in a home improvement store: gaseous pollutants, bioburden and particle-bound chemical constituents. Build Environ. 2025;277:112908.