Indoor Air Quality Study on Fiber Glass Industry

doi:10.4236/eng.2013.510B009

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Engineering, 2013, 5, 42-46

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/eng.2013.510B009 Published Online October 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/eng)

Indoor Air Quality Study on Fiber Glass Industry

Amir Alhaddad, Baderiya Al-Abdulmohsin

Chemical Engineering Department, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait

Email: a [email protected] du.kw, [email protected]

Received October 2012

ABSTRACT

The most hazardous chemical used in fiber glass industry are: formaldehyde, ph enol and ammonia. The chemicals were

monitored in an industry in Kuwait to investigate the indoor air quality of the facility. It was found that all these chemi-

cals were within the OSHA standards but formaldehyde exceeded KEPA standards (0.1 ppm) in the curing area. It was

found that lower density of fiber glass product leads to higher concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere and vise

versa. Moreover, higher thickness causes higher concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere.

Keywords: Indoor Air Quality; Fiber Gl a ss In d us t ry; Hazardous Pollutants

1. Introduction

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is defined as the nature of air

that affects the health and well-being of occupants. It

differs from industrial ind icators of acceptability, such as

threshold limit values, as the latter primarily reflect con-

cern for control of potential hazards. A more technical

definition of IAQ is related to how well indoor air satis-

fies the three basic requirements for human occupancy

which are thermal acceptability, maintenance of normal

concentrations of respiratory gases; and dilution and re-

moval of contaminants to levels below health or odour

discomfort thresholds. The following is a brief review of

recent studies related to indoor air quality conducted in

Kuwait and around the world. Yassin et al. [4] meas-

ured concentrations of PM2.5 at indoor settings in several

houses with various residential mediums in Kuwait. Data

were collected by using a Dust-Trak personal sampler

over 24 hours. The places included kitchen, living room,

and bedrooms in all studied houses. It was found that the

concentrations of PM2.5 were higher than the EPA daily

NAAQS in the kitchen and living rooms where the lower

concentrations were recorded in the bedrooms. These

results reflect bad effect on human health in Kuwait in

compared with houses in the United States, the United

Kingdom and Greece. Al-Rashidi et al. [2] investigated

the impact of ventilation modes on carbon dioxide con-

centrations in Kuwait classrooms. The levels of CO2

were measured during natural and air conditioned venti-

lation modes. The study conducted inside 10 elementary-

level classrooms for children in the 6 - 10 years age in

three schools. The obtained data showed that the concen-

trations of CO2 with air conditioned operation were

higher than concentrations during natural ventilation. The

concentrations of CO2 exceeded the recommended stan-

dards that some strategies and arrangements should be

taken to reduce the CO2 levels to allowable limits. Boh-

landt et al. [1] measured concentrations of the trace met-

als cerium (Ce), anthanum (La) and cadmium (Cd) in

indoor air with high Environmental tobacco smoke load.

The samples were collected in 3 smokers and 7 nonsmo-

kers’ households in addition to 28 hospitals in Southern

Germany. Data was conducted continuously for seven

days in every season in th e houses and for 4 hours during

the main visiting hours in the hospitals. Analysis of all

measured values showed that high concentrations of Ce

and La were found in smokers’ households and hospitals

which were above the international indoor air quality

standards. Fiedoruk [3] examined indoor air quality in-

side the cabin of an airplane occupied 150 passengers on

board. The concentration of CO2, air temperature, pres-

sure and humidity were measured during the flight that

lasted three hours. Results showed that the concentration

of CO 2 was higher than international standards. Penpatra

et al. [5] studied the effects of exposure to glass microfi-

bers on respiratory and skin symptoms, asthma and lung

functions. The study included 102 workers from four

microfiber factories in Thailand. The workers answered

questionnaire on respiratory health, occupational expo-

sures and life style factors and performed spirometry.

The dust concentrations were monitored in the air of

factories during 2004 and 2005 by the gravimetric analy-

sis method (NIOSH method 0600). Results showed that

exposure to glass microfibers increase the risk of the res-

piratory and skin symptoms. On the other hand, exposure

to sensitizing chemicals increased the risk of cough and

nasal symptoms. Sait et al. [6] assessed health risks of

A. ALHADDAD, B. AL-ABDULMOHSIN

volatile organic compounds in three primary schools in

Izmi r, Turkey. Primary schools accommodate children

aged 7 - 14 for about 5 - 8 hours daily. Concentrations of

VOCs were measured in spring, winter, and fall terms. A

thermal desorption—GC-MS system was used to analyze

VOCs where Formaldehyde analysis was performed us-

ing an HPLC instrument. A health risk assessment was

performed to detect odours, sensory irritation, chronic

toxic effects and cancer. Results showed that Formalde-

hyde appears to be the pollutant of greatest concern with

high chronic toxic and carcinogenic risk based on the

health assessment followed by naphthalene, benzene,

toluene because of their chronic effects.

Due to the nature of the fiber glass industry; involving

the use of hazardous materials, it is essential to undergo

an indoor air quality study to monitor the surrounding

pollutants. In the present study the primary objective of

IAQ is to ensure that the potential env ironmental impacts

of the industry are identified, and considered during the

running process. This is done by first studying the over

overall process and identifying the major areas of con-

cern. These areas are monitored and the environmental

impacts studied and analyzed to formulate a suitable and

effective solution for any problems if identified. As well

as provide well-documented information to Kuwait’s

EPA for evaluation and approval for environmental com-

pliance. Finally, this study concentrated on chemical pol-

lutants rather than particulate matters because PM stu-

died extensively in a previous study.

2. Data Collection

Data were collected in this study by using UV Sentry

equipment. It consists of an ultra violet light generated

from a source, usually deuterium or xenon lamp. The

light is emitted through the area to a receiver where it is

collected and concentrated using standard telescope op-

tics. Once inside the spectrometer, the light is broken out

into its various wavelengths by sending it through a ho-

lographic grating. The light then hits the CCD array

which in turn charges the capacitor. The capacitors are

discharged at a sample rate set by the user and the light

signal at each light frequency is proportional to the total

charge of each capacitor. The concentrated light is then

passed through an input lens into the spectrometer via a

fiber optic coupling.

The data were measured over a period of three months

and divided into two periods, the first period was from

1/Jan/2012 to 16/Feb/2012 and the second period was

from 17/Feb/2012 to end of March. The pollutants that

have been monitored were Ammonia, Formaldehyde, and

Phenol. The device was placed in 5 different areas

throughout the process line and in each area data were

collected for 5 days, this was done twice (two rounds),

which accumulated to a total of three months. The va-

riables that remained constant during the experiment

were the height and the duration of time which was 5

days. The height was maintained at 1.75 m from plat-

form/ground level which is equivalent of the height of

the average adult male. The distance between the sender

and the emitter are shown within the Table 1.

Once the raw data has b een collected, all records were

compiled into one file with special coding for each loca-

tion to distinguish between records. The raw data was

then transferred to SPSS software for statistical analysis

and proce s sed throu gh 3 steps .

3. Statistical Analysis

This part is about introducing and summarizing the col-

lected data using some statistical tools such as mean,

median, variance, skewness, upper quartile, lower quar-

tile. Tables 2 and 3 describe the overall statistics for the

collected data in general. A total of 8024 data points

were collected for each pollu tant. Data p oints that d id no t

“pass” a statistical were eliminated from the study.

As it is clear from the Figure 1, the more density sizes

the less concentration of Ammonia values. Also, the fig-

ure shows that the variation of the data is decreasing

when the density size is increasing as indicated by the

length of the whisker of the box-plot. So, the figure as-

sures that the more density size the less concentration of

Ammonia.

As it is clear from Figure 2, the more thickness sizes

the more concentration of Ammonia values. Also, the

figure shows that the variation of the data is decreasing

when the thickness is increasing as indicated by the

length of the whisker of the box-plot. So, the figure as-

sures that the more thick sizes the more concentration of

Ammonia.

4. Comparison against KEPA and OSHA

Standards

To assess the indoor air quality the concentrations of

ammoni a, a formaldehyde and phenol pollutants were

compared against local and international standards (KEPA

and OSHA). The comparison was made for the measured

Table 1. List of locations measured with distance between

sender and emitter of UV Sentry.

Area Location Distance

1 Forming area 30 meters

2 Curing oven inlet 14 meters

3 Curing oven outlet 14 meters

4 Chopper area 15 meters

5 Packing 35 meters

A. ALHADDAD, B. AL-ABDULMOHSIN

Table 2. Overall descriptive statistics for study variables.

Pollutants N Min i mu m M ax i mum

Statistic Statistic Statistic

Ammonia 9367 0.00 3.38

Formaldehyde 10153 0.00 3.27

Phenol 10301 0.016 0.197

Table 3. Overall descriptive statistics for study variables.

Pollutants Mean Variance Skewness

Statistic Std. Error Statistic Statistic Std. Error

Ammonia 0.7988 0.0085 0.681 1.402 0.025

Formaldehyde 1.0420 0.0074 0.552 0.440 0.024

Phenol 0.0457 0.00024 0.001 1.480 0.024

Figure 1. Box-plot change for Ln of Ammonia based on

density size.

Figure 2. Box-plot change for Ln of Ammonia based on

thickness size.

data from January 201 2 till April 2012.

Kuwait regulations KEPA and OSHA standards limit

ammonia in the indoor environment to be 35 ppm and 15

ppm respectively for 15 minute exposure. From Figure 3

obtained in this study it is evident that all areas showed

that ammonia levels are within both KEPA and OSHA

Density (kg/m3)

Figure 3. Concentrations of Ammonia in the study loca-

tions.

regulations. In curing oven outlet and forming area loca-

tions ammonia averages at approximately 2 ppm for all

densities. Moreover, these areas are exposed and are lia-

ble to fumes while the lowest average readings for am-

monia was observed in packing area. This was expected

A. ALHADDAD, B. AL-ABDULMOHSIN

since the packing is found at the end of the process line

and the product has cooled do wn leading to lower binder

volatility within the product.

Formaldehyde is considered one of the main pollutants

in this industry due to its severe health hazards. However

standards differ between KEPA and OSHA with 0.1 ppm

and 2 ppm respectively. This huge difference between

regulations may create conflict in the discussion of the

results. The highest concentration of formaldehyde was

found in chopper area with a maximum of 2.55 ppm and

averaging at 2 ppm. The concentrations of in curing oven

outlet and forming area were 1.82 ppm and 1.9 ppm re-

spectively as shown in Figure 4. The concentrations al-

though barely below OSHA regulations, they are much

higher than KEPA regulations. The Lowest concentra-

tions were found in packing area, as in the case of other

component analysis. Although concentrations at curing

oven and forming area were within OSHA standards,

these areas are prone to high concentrations due to the

possibility of further reactions taking place because of

the nature of these process areas.

Both KEPA and OSHA standards require phenol le-

vels to be under 5 ppm for an 8hr average. In all ar eas as

shown in Figure 5, phenol levels were observed to be

significantly less than 5 ppm. A maximum concentration

of 0.139 ppm of Phenol was recorded in forming area

Density (kg/m3)

Figure 4. Concentrations of formaldahyde in the study loca-

tions.

Density (kg/m3)

Figure 5. Concentrations of phenol in the study locations.

and a low of 0.028 ppm. The lowest concentration of

phenol was found in packing area, with an average of

0.022 ppm for all densities.

5. Conclusion

Indoor air quality of fiber glass industry investig ates met

OSHA standards for the pollutants studied; formaldehyde,

phenol and ammonia. Formaldehyde exceeded KEPA

standards in the curing area. These standards are under

revision in Kuwait and the new standards will be out in

mid 2013. The curing (reactor) area in the fiber glass

industry is the point of highest pollutants concentration

and can be used as reference to monitor IAQ of the facil-

ity. The source of hazardous pollutants in the fiber glass

industry is the “binder” used to produce the final product.

The higher the density, the lower pollutants concentra-

tion in the air (pollutants are captured in the product).

The higher the thickness (lower concentration), the high-

er the pollutants in the air.

6. Acknowledgements

This rese a rch was supported by the Kuwait Universit y.

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