Characterization of particulate and organic emissions from major indoor sources

As our understanding of human exposure to air pollutants improves, it is becoming increasingly evident that indoor environments play a critical role in determining exposures. However, it is not possible at the present time toestablish the relative contribution of indoor and outdoor sources to personal exposures, nor can the contribution of specific indoor emissions be quantified. To address these issues, a chamber experiment was initiated to measure particulate and organic emissions from important indoor sources. Data on particle size distributions, morphology, mutagenicity, and elemental and chemical composition, as well as information about volatile organic emissions, were collected for each source. Results of the study will be used to determine the feasibility of using source-receptor techniques for indoor source apportionment.