Experimental study of environmental tobacco smoke particles under actual indoor environment

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a major source of human exposure to airborne particles. In order to provide more information necessary for human exposure investigations, the aim of the work presented here is to investigate experimentally the variation of the ETS particle concentration and size distribution under an actual indoor environment, in a room of 30m3, using human smokers. The effect of number of cigarettes and brands of cigarettes, the effect of sampling location and the effect of ventilation rates were investigated. The results indicated little difference in the geometric mean diameter (GMD) of the ETS particles from those in background air. Under a ventilation rate of 0.03m3/s, the concentration of the ETS particles reached a peak value at the sampling point shortly after completing the smoking process. The GMD first increased due to coagulation and diffusion deposition, and finalize decreased due to the effect of ventilation. Smoking two cigarettes at the same time would increase the initial concentration and led to an increase in GMD of the ETS particles. Two different brands of cigarette with different tar contents released ETS particles of different GMDs but similar particle concentrations. Spatial variation in particle concentration was obvious only in the first 600s of the tests and tended to fade out subsequently. Stronger ventilation would reduce the concentration and GMD of the particles.