Daily personal exposure to black carbon in different microenvironments in Hanoi, Vietnam
Abstract
Daily personal exposure to black carbon (BC) in different microenvironments in Hanoi, Vietnam was quantified for the first time. In this study, a portable instrument, microAethe® model AE51, was used to continuously measure BC concentrations in various microenvironments within buildings and transportation modes. Overall average daily personal exposure to BC from those microenvironments was 5.46 µg/h. The highest BC exposure was during commuting 13.48 µg/h and 5.74 µg/h for the motorcyclist and car driver, respectively. In building environments, the highest BC exposure was 3.98 µg/h in a coffee shop with smoking; the lowest BC exposure was 1.54 µg/h in a hospital department; while BC exposure in an office was 1.92 µg/h. The level of BC exposure in an apartment was strongly influenced by building ventilation modes. They were 3.58 µg/h and 2.15 µg/h with doors/windows open and closed, respectively. Our finding confirmed that commuting contributes disproportionately to the total BC exposure due to the high level of BC during traffic/travel. Building ventilation and air conditioning can significantly affect indoor BC levels and should be considered as a measure to reduce BC exposure within buildings in Hanoi.
Downloads
Copyright (c) 2022 Hanoi University of Civil Engineering

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
1. The Author assigns all copyright in and to the article (the Work) to the Journal of Science and Technology in Civil Engineering (JSTCE) – Hanoi University of Civil Engineering (HUCE), including the right to publish, republish, transmit, sell and distribute the Work in whole or in part in electronic and print editions of the Journal, in all media of expression now known or later developed.
2. By this assignment of copyright to the JSTCE, reproduction, posting, transmission, distribution or other use of the Work in whole or in part in any medium by the Author requires a full citation to the Journal, suitable in form and content as follows: title of article, authors’ names, journal title, volume, issue, year, copyright owner as specified in the Journal, DOI number. Links to the final article published on the website of the Journal are encouraged.
3. The Author and the company/employer agree that any and all copies of the final published version of the Work or any part thereof distributed or posted by them in print or electronic format as permitted herein will include the notice of copyright as stipulated in the Journal and a full citation to the Journal as published on the website.