Assessment of indoor air quality determinants in urban and rural household in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand

Abstract

Poor indoor air quality can adversely affect to human health and comfort. However, the existing study on indoor air pollution in Thai household is still limited. This study aimed to quantify determinant of air pollutants and meteorological comfort parameters from urban and rural areas in Nakorn Rachasima province. PM2.5, PM10, CO, CO2, SO2, CH2O, NO2, TVOCs, Fungi, Bacteria, Temperature and Relative humidity from 30 households were continuously sampled for at least 24 hrs from July - September 2020. Moreover. the indoor air quality determinants were collected by questionnaires. The results showed that the average value of indoor air quality in urban and rural household were as follows: Temperature (33.41±0.37 vs 30.04±0.34 ํC), Relative Humidity (67.93±1.44 vs 70.54±1.60 percent), Formaldehyde (10.50±2.32 vs 10.63±3.75 ppb), Nitrogen dioxide (0.67±0.56 vs 6.48±4.65 ppb), Carbon monoxide (0.10±0.03 vs 0.13±0.05 ppm), Carbon monoxide (224.34±32.15 vs 220.63±15.43 ppm), Total Volatile Organic Compounds (930.38±53.27 vs 705.77±53.22 ppm), PM2.5 (22.53±2.22 vs 20.01±1.48), PM10 (75.37±5.54 vs 92.49±12.82), Total bacteria (358.66±59.45 vs 810.4±106.41 CFU/m3) and Fungi (132.83±52.75 vs 237.6±52.19 CFU/m3). According to the result, Temperature, Relative humidity, PM10 and PM2.5 exceeded the health recommendation and guideline. The TVOCs level was significantly different between urban and rural household. Moreover, household cleaning solution had significantly associated with TVOCs, while opened windows had significantly associated with PM10. Therefore, an intervention to increase awareness and knowledge in the household should be implemented for protecting health from indoor air pollution.