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Project to investigate pollutants in indoor air

A Sira product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 11, 2001

Part of the DTI's National Measurement System, a one-and-a-half-year project to investigate requirements for gas standards for indoor and in-car air has been won by a Sira-led consortium

A contract under the Valid Analytical Measurements programme has been won by a Sira-led consortium.

Part of the DTI's National Measurement System, the 1 1/2-year project will investigate requirements for gas standards for indoor and in-car air.

Accurate measurement of pollutants in indoor air is essential for providing healthy working and living environments, and this project is recognition of the increasing need for standards and validated measurement techniques in the field of indoor air quality.

In addition to Sira as project leader, the participants consist of BRE (Building Research Establishment), the National Physical Laboratory, Optimat and the University of York.

The evaluation of air quality measurement techniques inevitably involves measurement under ideal conditions, but understanding the performance of these methods will be enhanced by the project through investigating their performance in atmospheres more typical of those in cars and buildings.

Of particular interest is understanding the performance of simple, low-cost air monitoring devices in the presence of reactive intermediates.

"A key element of the project will be a survey of industrial need associated with indoor and in-car air quality," stated project manager Dr Andrew Crookell.

"This will help identify the requirements and priorities for measurement, and enable suitable techniques to be highlighted for a subsequent test programme.

A small number of suitable measurement devices will be identified and tested in accordance with the priorities determined in the industry survey.

Part of this work will involve evaluating the performance under atmospheric conditions in the presence of reactive species, where build up of reactive intermediates may affect the accuracy of the monitoring devices.