Indoor/outdoor concentrations of ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN)

Photochemical pollutants such as ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) could adversely affect human health, especially with relation to effects on lung function. For a realistic assessment of ambient concentrations, both outdoor and indoor measurements of ozone and PAN are required, because people stay indoors for most of the time. Indoor/outdoor concentration ratios, indoor half-life times and indoor chemistry including physicochemical reactions on surfaces are quite well known for ozone, but not for PAN. While ozone is removed very rapidly mainly by heterogeneous reactions on surfaces or by gasphase reactions with e.g. carpet emissions, no such processes are known for PAN at present. The main removal process for PAN is thermal decay. Indoor concentrations of ozone and PAN can be a significant fraction of those outdoors highly depending on the ventilation pattern. Our measurements in various kinds of non-air-conditioned rooms show maximal indoor concentrations between 80 and 100% of those outdoors for ozone and PAN, respectively. Average indoor/outdoor ratios were calculated of 0.5 for ozone and between 0.7 and 0.9 for PAN. The half-life times ranged between only a few minutes for ozone and 0.5 to 1 h for PAN.