Evaluation of the dispersion of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide in the indoor café - case study

Abstract

A popularity café in Baghdad city was chosen to measure the dispersion of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) as examples of the Indoor Air Pollutants (IAPs) which are considered a significant environmental problem. The aims of this research were, firstly, to measure the variation of NO 2 and CO concentrations; secondly, to examine the effect of the seasonal variation of indoor temperature (°C) and relative humidity (%) on the dispersion of both NO 2 and CO and finally to compare the results with those of the global standards. The volume of café was about 360 m 3 and the number of smokers was about 25-35 smoker/day. This work was divided into two parts where the first part includes the experimental work which comprised the measurement of NO 2 and CO by GIGs devices. It was lasted about five months commencing from November 2017 to March 2018 and the readings were taken during two intervals at partial time and during peak time. The second part includes the analysis of obtained results and compared the results of those of the global standards for the Indoor Air Quality suggested by WHO, EPA, and European criteria in order to achieve the goals of this work. The results from this research have highlighted a clear increase in the concentrations of NO 2 and CO along with the growing numbers of smokers. Furthermore, the concentrations of NO 2 and CO were close to some global standard values of short-term exposure at peak time.