Introdução: As análises de controle ambiental de ar atmosférico são realizadas caracterizando principalmente a parte química dos aerossóis. Boa parte dos aerossóis são partículas vivas ou fragmentos de micro-organismos que utilizam o ar como veículo de dispersão. A natureza dessas biopartículas é diversa, podendo conter vírus, protozoários, bactérias, fungos e outros. Os fungos dispersos no ar são chamados de anemófilos. Como as informações sobre os anemófilos da cidade de São Paulo ainda são escassas, se faz necessário fazer um levantamento destes micro-organismos e suas relações com as condições atmosféricas e os poluentes presentes no ar, permitindo adicionar informações que poderão ser úteis para os modelos climáticos e de saúde, além de poder auxiliar novos estudos na área da epidemiologia ambiental, talvez como biomarcadores de poluição. Objetivo: Analisar a frequência de diferentes gêneros fúngicos na atmosfera da região metropolitana de São Paulo e correlacionar com as condições atmosféricas e os poluentes circulantes. Materiais e Métodos: A concentração de fungos e bactérias foi analisada no ar atmosférico de São Paulo em quatro pontos, três na cidade de São Paulo, sendo um no Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas situado na Cidade Universitária, dois no bairro Cerqueira César distintos pela altitude (andar térreo e 23º andar) e na cidade de Ibiúna, no Bairro Votorantim. Os dados sobre os poluentes foram obtidos na Companhia Ambiental do Estado de São Paulo (Cetesb) e das condições atmosféricas foram obtidos no banco de dados do Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento do país (INMET). Durante as coletas utilizamos impactadores de ar. Foram coletadas 736 amostras, durante seis anos. Após as coletas, foi feita a análise da concentração de fungos e bactérias. Após crescimento, uma colônia de cada gênero por dia de coleta/ponto foi enviada para identificação, totalizando 1630 isolados. Durante o processo de identificação de gênero foram utilizadas características fenotípicas e as espécies do gênero Aspergillus foram identificadas pelo sistema Maldi-tof. Resultados: De acordo com os resultados obtidos, as condições meteorológicas da cidade de São Paulo influenciam diretamente na concentração de fungos dispersos no ar. A diversidade fúngica variou com a região estudada. Discussão: É difícil avaliar a importância individual de cada componente do ar devido à natureza dinâmica da atmosfera. O que se sabe é que as investigações sobre bioaerossóis fúngicos e a atenção que tem sido dada às suas relações com as condições atmosféricas e a poluição são escassas. Com os resultados obtidos foi verificado que a concentração de fungos se modifica de acordo com as condições ambientais levando a crer que eles podem ser utilizados como bioindicadores de poluição. Conclusão: Como os fungos presentes no ar atmosférico são sensíveis às condições atmosféricas e à exposição a poluentes, eles podem ser utilizados como marcadores de poluição, seu monitoramento associado ao controle de poluentes e condições atmosféricas fortalece as pesquisas relacionadas ao ar atmosférico. / Introduction: Atmospheric air environmental control analyzes are carried out mainly characterizing the chemical part of the aerosols. Much of the aerosols are live particles or fragments of microorganisms that use air as the dispersing vehicle. The nature of these bioparticles is diverse and may contain viruses, protozoa, bacteria, fungi and others. Fungi dispersed in the air are called anemophils. As the information about anemophils in the city of São Paulo is still scarce, it is necessary to survey these microorganisms and their relationships with atmospheric conditions and pollutants present in the air, allowing the addition of information that may be useful for climate models and health, in addition to being able to support new studies in the area of environmental epidemiology, perhaps as biomarkers of pollution. Objective: To analyze the frequency of different fungal genera in the atmosphere of the metropolitan region of São Paulo and to correlate with atmospheric conditions and circulating pollutants. Materials and Methods: The concentration of fungi and bacteria was analyzed in the air of São Paulo in four points, three in the city of São Paulo, one in the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences located in the University City, two in the district of Cerqueira César distinguished by altitude (ground floor and 23rd floor) and in the city of Ibiúna, Votorantim District. Data on the pollutants were obtained from Companhia Ambiental do Estado de São Paulo (Cetesb) and the weather conditions were obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (INMET) database. During the collection, we use air impactors. A total of 736 samples were collected for six years. After collection, the concentration of fungi and bacteria was analyzed. After growth, a colony of each genus per day of collection/point was sent for identification, totaling 1630 isolates. During the process of genus identification, phenotypic characteristics were used and the species of the genus Aspergillus were identified by the Maldi-tof system. Results: According to the results obtained, the meteorological conditions of the city of São Paulo directly influence the concentration of fungi dispersed in the air. Fungal diversity varied with the studied region. Discussion: It is difficult to assess the individual importance of each component of air due to the dynamic nature of the atmosphere. What is known is that research on fungal bioaerosols and the attention paid to its relations with weather and pollution are scarce. With the results obtained, it was verified that the fungi concentration modifies according to the environmental conditions leading to the belief that they can be used as bioindicators of pollution. Conclusion: As fungi present in atmospheric air are sensitive to atmospheric conditions and exposure to pollutants, they can be used as pollution markers; their monitoring associated with pollutant control and atmospheric conditions strengthens atmospheric air-related research.

As pessoas estão cada vez mais viajando de avião e, muitas vezes, em viagens longas. A qualidade do ar torna-se uma questão crucial. Uma forma de melhorar a qualidade do ar e as condições de conforto térmico dentro de uma cabine de aeronave está na utilização de novos sistemas de ventilação personalizada. O objetivo do presente trabalho consiste na análise experimental da influência de um sistema de ventilação personalizada (PV) na concentração, dispersão e remoção de partículas expiratórias em cabine de aeronave com sistema por mistura (MV) e por deslocamento (DV). Os ensaios foram realizados em um mock-up de cabine de aeronave comercial de 12 assentos, com 4 assentos por fileira. O ar foi insuflado na cabine a 18°C pelo sistema MV ou DV, correspondendo a uma leve sensação de frio, e a 24°C pelo sistema personalizado (PV), com vazão de 3,0 l/s, operando no assento próximo à fuselagem e ao corredor, alternadamente. As partículas simulando uma pessoa espirrando foram injetadas em dois pontos no fundo da cabine, respectivamente, no assento próximo à fuselagem e naquele junto do corredor, a 1,10m do piso, que corresponde à região de respiração. Foram medidas velocidades e temperaturas do ar e de partículas ao longo de toda a cabine. Os resultados mostraram que no sistema MV o sistema PV somente influenciou o escoamento do ar e a concentração de partículas no assento onde o sistema PV estava operando, com uma eficiência na remoção de partículas de até 30%. No sistema DV, por sua vez, o sistema PV apresentou eficiência de remoção de até 49% nos assentos em que estava operando. Contudo, o sistema PV pode aumentar em até 32% a concentração de partículas no assento próximo da janela quando o sistema PV estava operando no assento próximo do corredor, no sistema DV. Finalmente, os resultados mostraram resultados mais promissores do sistema PV no sistema MV, com melhoria significativa na remoção de partículas nos assentos onde está operando, sem influenciar negativamente no assento ao lado. / People are increasingly traveling by plane and often on long journeys. Air quality becomes a crucial issue. One way to improve air quality and thermal comfort conditions within an aircraft cabin is to use new personalized ventilation systems. The objective of the present work is the experimental analysis of the influence of a personalized ventilation system (PV) on the concentration, dispersion and removal of expiratory particles in aircraft cabin with mixed system (MV) and displacement (DV). The tests were performed in a 12 seat commercial aircraft cabin mock-up, with 4 seats per row. The air was inflated in the cabin at 18 ° C by the MV or DV system, corresponding to a slight cold sensation, and at 24 ° C by the custom system (PV), with a flow rate of 3.0 l / s, operating in the nearby seat the fuselage and the aisle, alternately. Particles simulating a person sneezing were injected at two points in the bottom of the cockpit, respectively, in the seat near the fuselage and next to the corridor, 1.10m from the floor, which corresponds to the breathing region. Air and particle velocities and temperatures were measured throughout the cabin. The results showed that in the MV system the PV system only influenced the air flow and the concentration of particles in the seat where the PV system was operating, with a particle removal efficiency of up to 30%. The DV system together with PV system showed removal efficiency of up to 49% in the seats in which it was operating. However, the PV system can increase particle concentration in the near-window seat by up to 32% when the PV system was operating on the seat next to the aisle in the DV system. Finally, the results showed more promising results of the PV system in the MV system, with significant improvement in particle removal in the seats where it is operating, without negatively influencing the next seat.

Open burning of biomass and anthropogenic waste is a major source of aerosols at the biosphere-atmosphere interface, yet its impact on Earth’s climate and air quality is not fully understood due to the intricate feedbacks between the natural environment and human activities. Earth system models (ESMs) are a vital tool in the study of these aerosol-biosphere-atmosphere interactions. ESMs allow the estimation of radiative forcing and climate impacts in terms of changes to temperature and precipitation as well as the attribution to natural or anthropogenic drivers. To provide coherent results, however, ESMs require rigorous development and evaluation against observations. In my work I use the NASA-GISS ESM: ModelE. One of its strengths lie in its detailed aerosol schemes that include microphysics and thermodynamic partitioning, both necessary for the simulation of secondary inorganic aerosols. To overcome one of ModelE’s weaknesses, namely its lack of interactive biomass burning (BB) emissions, I developed pyre: ModelE’s interactive fire emissions module. pyrE is driven by flammability and cloud-to-ground lightning, both of which are calculated in ModelE, and anthropogenic ignition and regional suppression parameterizations, based on population density data. Notably, the interactive fire emissions are generated from the flaming phase in pyrE (fire count), rather than the scar left behind (burned area), which is commonly used in other interactive fire modules. The performance of pyrE was evaluated against MODIS satellite retrievals and GFED4s inventory, as well as simulations with prescribed emissions. Although the simulated fire count is bias-high compared to MODIS, simulated fire emissions are bias-low compared to GFED4s. However, the bias in total emissions does not propagate to atmospheric composition, as pyrE simulates aerosol optical depth just as well as a simulation with GFED4s prescribed emissions. Upon the development and evaluation of the fire-aerosol capabilities of ModelE, I have utilized it, with the EVA health model, to study the health impacts of outdoor smoke in 1950, 2015, and 2050. I find that chronic exposure to aerosols (PM2.5) is the main driver of premature deaths from smoke exposure, yet by 2050, acute exposure to ozone, formed downwind of BB smoke plumes, is projected to cause more premature deaths than exposure to PM2.5. I estimate the annual premature deaths from BB and waste burning (WB) smoke in 1950 to be ~41,000 and ~19,000, respectively, and in 2015 to be ~310,000 and ~840,000, respectively. By 2050 I project 390,000 and 1.5 million premature deaths from BB and WB respectively. In light of the growing impact of WB smoke exposure I identify the need to scale up viable waste management practices in regions of rapid population growth.

Methods for the determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) associated with suspended participate matter were developed with the aim of determining airborne concentrations and to investigate seasonal trends. Other associate pollutants such as Total Suspended Particulate matter (TSP), Particulate Matter with an equivalent aerodynamic diameter less than 10 micrometres (PM10) and lead concentration were also reviewed to determine trends. Motor vehicle emissions appear to be the source of the PAHs and differences between the types and concentrations of PAHs detected at central business district sites verses suburban sites were noted. Wind erosion, biomass burning, motor vehicle emissions and industrial processes are sources of particulate matter in the atmosphere. Lead comes mainly from motor vehicles emissions in the ACT with some lead possibly from the burning of lead contaminated fuel. TSP and lead concentrations have decreased since air quality monitoring began in the early 1980s. PM10 concentration may also have fallen but the data set for PM10s is to small to draw any firm conclusions. Only TSP lead concentrations displayed a seasonal pattern. The ACT air pollution Act 1984 has placed restriction on the burning of fuels to improve air quality in the ACT. The air quality in regards to TSP and lead is improving. However, the only strong links between the Act and decreased pollutant concentrations is the introduction of unleaded petrol and the decrease of airborne lead concentrations.

The main task of the ventilation system in a building is to maintain the air quality and (together with the heating or cooling system) the thermal climate at an acceptable level within the building. This means that a sufficient amount of ventilation air at the appropriate temperature and quality must be supplied to satisfy thermal comfort and air quality demands and that this air is distributed to the parts of the building where people reside. Air movements caused by buoyancy forces can determine the distribution of ventilation air within buildings. The purpose of this thesis is to advance the state of knowledge of buoyancydriven air movements within buildings and to determine their importance both for ventilation air distribution and the maintenance of thermal comfort and air quality in buildings. The work is focused on studying thermally-driven air movements through large openings, both horizontal and vertical (i.e. doorways). The properties of a special type of thermally-driven currents, so called gravity currents, have also been explored. Large vertical openings like doorways are important for air exchange between rooms within a building. Air movements through doorways separating rooms with different air temperatures are often bidirectional and the buoyancy-driven flow rates are often greater than those caused by the mechanical ventilation system alone. Bidirectional flows through doorways can effectively spread contaminants, for example, from a kitchen or a hospital rooms, yet the results of this study indicate that the conversion of a thermally-driven bidirectional flow to a unidirectional flow via an increase of the mechanically forced flow rate requires forced flows that are more than three times greater than the thermally-driven flows. Experiments conducted in this project indicate that the resistance to buoyancy-driven flows in horizontal openings is significantly greater than that in vertical openings. Model tests have shown, however, that this problem may be mitigated if a simple model of a staircase located in the centre of the room (being ventilated) is linked to the horizontal ventilation opening. Gravity currents in rooms occur in connection with so called displacement ventilation as cool gravity currents propagate along the floor that are driven by the density difference of the ventilation air and the ambient, warmer air within the room. As these gravity currents easily pass obstacles and to a certain extent are self-controlling, they can effectively distribute the cool air within rooms in a building. Likewise, warm gravity currents occur when warmer air introduced in a room rises and spreads along the ceiling plane. One application where warm gravity currents may be used to advantage is when converting buildings from electric heating to district hot water heating thus, avoiding the introduction of an expensive hydronic heating system. This report includes a full-scale laboratory study of the basic properties of thermally-driven warm air gravity currents in a residential building and examines the possibilities of using the resulting air movements for the distribution of ventilation air as well as heat. Results from laboratory tests show that this conversion method may prove effective if certain conditions on the layout of the building are fulfilled. / QC 20100705

In this thesis, I apply the adjoint for the Community Multiscale Air Quality model (hereafter CMAQ-ADJ) in a high spatial resolution study of the sensitivity of ozone to several of its precursors in the regions surrounding the Great Lakes. CMAQ-ADJ was originally developed for low spatial resolution applications. In order to use it in high spatial resolution (12 km) studies, it was necessary to resolve a conflict between the pre-set fixed output time step interval in CMAQ-ADJ and the CMAQ-calculated irregular synchronization time-step and also to modify the meteorological interface for the backward model integrations. To increase computation efficiency, the chemistry time-step in the modified CMAQ-ADJ is checkpointed instead of being re-calculated in the backward part of the model as before. I used the modified model to analyze the sensitivity of ozone to precursor species for cases of assumed high ozone episode in two target locations in southwestern and east-central Ontario. The studies examined the influence of pre-existing ozone, NO, CO, anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and isoprene on ozone level changes for the 69 hours immediately preceding the assumed high ozone event. The results are dominated by the long-distance advection, local meteorology (lake breezes), air temperature, the underlying surface features, and emissions in the pollutant pathway. Both production and titration of ozone by NOx is evident at different times and locations in the simulations. The industrial Midwest U.S. and Ohio Valley have been shown to be an important source of anthropogenic emission of NO and most VOCs that contribute to high ozone events in southwestern and east-central Ontario. Isoprene from the northern forest suppresses ozone in both target regions, with a greater magnitude in east-central Ontario. The response of ozone level in the two selected receptor regions in Ontario to different VOCs depends on the type of VOC, the time and location they are emitted, and the air temperature. Increasing VOC emissions in urban areas such as Toronto and Ottawa in the morning can enhance the ozone level by late afternoon. Increasing VOCs except ethylene and formaldehyde in regions with large VOC/NOx ratio in the morning tends to suppress the ozone level by late afternoon. Among all the species examined, NO has the largest impact on the target ozone level changes. CO is very unlikely to significantly influence the ozone level changes in southwestern or east-central Ontario.

A series of land-use-land-cover-change (LULCC) based sensitivity experiments, including changes in vegetation type, fractional vegetation (FV), and soil moisture (SM), over Western Kentucky were conducted to investigate atmospheric response to land-use. The choice of land-use for this study was chosen in the context of Western Kentucky’s historical LULCC. For this study, vegetation types considered were grassland, forest, and bare soil with further variations in FV for grassland and forest at 25, 50, 75, and 100 % and systematic increases and decreases in volumetric SM of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 m3 m-3. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first assessment of its kind that incorporates these types of LULCC in a single study. In addition, typical anthropogenic land-use change often incorporates several types of LULCC. Moreover, this assessment provides a robust analysis of the impacts LULCC has on atmospheric processes over Western Kentucky. To simulate the importance of land-use on atmospheric processes, a well known meso-scale model developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) MM5 coupled with an intermediately complex land surface model (LSM) Noah was used. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of multiple types of LULCC on planetary boundary layer (PBL) evolution, PBL stability, near surface 3D-wind fields, temperature, and moisture. Furthermore, it is anticipated that multiple types of LULCC will provide more insight into the complex nonlinear land-atmosphere interactions from atmospheric, air quality, and climatology perspectives. Modeling analysis revealed the importance of land-use on atmospheric processes. Changes in all three types of LULCC (land-cover, FV, and SM) altered the distribution of surface energy and moisture, PBL structure, 3D-wind fields, and PBL stability. In general, it was found that LULCC that enhanced (diminished) ET rates reduced (increased) sensible heat flux, atmospheric temperature and, and PBL heights below (above) control (CTRL). For instance, the conversion of land-cover from CTRL to grassland reduced 2 m temperature and PBL heights by 0.60 °C and 228 m respectively compared to CTRL due to an evaporative advantage (lower stomata resistance). Multiple types of land-use change were found to either offset or enhance overall modeled response to LULCC. A reduction in FV to 25 % over grassland diminished ET despite the evaporation advantage of grassland and increased 2 m temperature and PBL heights with respect to CTRL by 3.3 °C and 504 m. These results significantly altered horizontal and vertical wind fields, affecting moisture advection and the development of meso-scale circulations. Compared to CTRL, these differences were enhanced over drier soils, but muted over moist soils. Moreover, the impact of LULCC on atmosphere evolution was not only dependent on the type of LULCC, but also on the current state of other unaltered land surface features such as vegetation type, FV, and SM. Alterations to modeled PBL development, as a result of LULCC, can have important impacts on a region’s climatology and air quality. Simulated changes in typical PBL moisture and temperature through time can affect local and regional climatology. Depending on the type of LULCC, these alterations in climate may lead to localized cooling. In addition, it was further hypothesized that changes in PBL height can affect air quality. Given the capping inversion layer at the top of the PBL, changes in PBL heights can significantly affect air quality with lower (higher) PBL heights diminishing (enhancing) air quality. Moreover, this research prescribes the importance of considering LULCC in atmospheric assessments of climatology and air quality, including pollutant dispersion and trajectory modeling.

In recent years, the celebration activities of various types of folk-custom festivals in Taiwan have already been getting more and more attention from civilians. Festivities throughout the whole island are traditionally accompanied by loud and brightly colored firework displays. Among these activities, the firework display during the Chinese Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung City is one of the largest festivals in Taiwan every year. Therefore, it is important to investigate the influences of firework displays on ambient air quality during the Chinese Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung City. Field measurement of ambient gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (PM) was conducted on February 9-12, 2009, the Chinese Lantern Festival, in Kaohsiung City. Moreover, three kinds of firework powders obtained from the same factory producing Kaohsiung Lantern Festival fireworks were burned in a combustion chamber to determine the physicochemical properties of firework aerosols. Metallic elements were analyzed with an inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES). Ionic species and carbonaceous contents in the PM samples were analyzed with an ion chromatography (IC) and an elemental analyzer (EA), respectively. Finally, the source identification and apportionment of PM were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), enrichment factor (EF), and receptor modeling (CMB). For inorganic gaseous pollutants, the concentration peaks of NO, NO2, O3, CO were observed during the firework periods, and the concentration peak of NO was approximately 8.8 times higher than those during the non-firework periods. This study further revealed that, even at nighttime, ambient O3 could be reduced dramatically during the firework periods, whenas NO2 concentration increased concurrently, due to titration effects resulting from the prompt reaction of NO with O3 to form NO2 and O2. For organic gaseous pollutants, the concentration peak of toluene during the firework periods was approximately 2.2-4.1 times higher than those during the non-firework periods. Several metallic elements of PM during the firework display periods were obviously higher than those during the non-firework periods. On February 10, the concentrations of Mg, K, Pb, and Sr in PM2.5 were 10 times higher than those during the non-firework periods. Besides, the Cl-/Na+ ratio was slightly smaller than 1 in Kaohsiung Harbor, but it was approximately 3 during the firework display periods since Cl- came form chlorine content in firework aerosols at this time. Moreover, OC/EC ratio increased up to 2.8. In addition to the analysis of gaseous pollutants and PM during the Chinese Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung City, this study burned firework powders in a self-designed combustion chamber to measure the physicochemical properties of firework aerosols. In the results, K, Mg, Cl-, OC were major contents (<10%) in the aerosols produced from the burning firework powders. Moreover, Cl-/Na+ and OC/EC ratio were 15.0~23.4 and 2.9~3.2, respectively. Consequently, Cl-/Na+ and OC/EC ratio can be used as two important indicators of firework displays. Results obtained from PCA and CMB receptor modeling showed that the major sources of aerosols during the firework display periods were firework displays, motor/diesel vehicle exhanst, soil dusts, and marine aerosols. Besides, the firework displays on February 10 contributed approximately 25.2% and 16.6% of PM10 at two sampling sites, respectively.

In this study, emission inventory was prepared and pollutant dispersion studies were carried out for the area around &Ccedil / ayirhan Thermal Power Plant to determine the effects of the plant on the environment. Stack gas measurement results were used for the emissions from the power plant and emission factors were used for calculating the emissions from residential sources and coal stockpiles in the study region. Ground level concentrations of SO2, NOx and PM10 were estimated by using EPA approved dispersion models / namely ISCST3 and AERMOD. The ground level concentrations predicted by two models were compared with the results of ambient air pollution measurements for November 2004. Predictions of both ISCST3 and AERMOD were underestimating the ground level SO2 concentrations. However, AERMOD predictions are better than ISCST3 predictions. The results of both models had good correlation with the results of NOx measurements. It has been shown that the contribution of the power plant to SO2, NOx and PM10 pollution in the area studied is minimal.

Experiments were conducted to determine the photocatalytic degradation of three types of gas-phase compounds, NOX, VOCs, and chloramines, by TiO2 impregnated tiles. The oxides of nitrogen NO and NO2 (NOx) have a variety of negative impacts on human and environmental health ranging from serving as key precursors for the respiratory irritant ozone, to forming nitric acid, which is a primary component of acid rain. A flow tube reactor was designed for the experiments that allowed the UV illumination of the tiles under exposure to both NO and NO2 concentrations in simulated ambient air. The reactor was also used to assess NOx degradation for sampled ambient air. The PV values for NO and NO2 were 0.016 cm s-1 and 0.0015 cm s-1, respectively. For ambient experiments a decrease in ambient NOx of ~ 40% was observed over a period of roughly 5 days. The mean PV for NOx for ambient air was 0.016 cm s-1 and the maximum PV was .038 cm s-1. Overall, the results indicate that laboratory conditions generally simulate the efficiency of removing NOx by TiO2 impregnated tiles. Volatile organic compounds (VOC's) are formed in a variety of indoor environments, and can lead to respiratory problems (US EPA, 2010). The experiments determined the photocatalytic degradation of formaldehyde and methanol, two common VOCs, by TiO2 impregnated tiles. The same flow tube reactor used for the previous NOX experiments was used to test a standardized gas-phase concentration of formaldehyde and methanol. The extended UV illumination of the tiles resulted in a 50 % reduction in formaldehyde, and a 68% reduction in methanol. The deposition velocities (or the photocatalytic velocities, PV) were estimated for both VOC's. The PV for formaldehyde was 0.021 cm s-1, and the PV for methanol was 0.026 cm s-1. These PV values are slightly higher than the mean value determined for NO from the previous experiments which was 0.016 cm s-1. The results suggest that the TiO2 tiles could effectively reduce specific VOC levels in indoor environments. Chlorination is a widespread form of water disinfection. However, chlorine can produce unwanted disinfection byproducts when chlorine reacts with nitrogen containing compounds or other organics. The reaction of chlorine with ammonia produces one of three chloramines, (mono-, di-, and tri-chloramine). The production of chloramines compounds in indoor areas increases the likelihood of asthma in pool professionals, competitive swimmers, and children that frequently bath in indoor chlorinated swimming pools (Jacobs, 2007; Nemery, 2002; Zwiener, 2007). A modified flow tube reactor in conjunction with a standardized solution of monochloramine, NH2Cl, determined the photocatalytic reactions over the TiO2 tiles and seven concrete samples. The concrete samples included five different concrete types, and contained either 5 % or 15 % TiO2 by weight. The PV for the tiles was 0.045 cm s-1 for the tiles manufactured by TOTO Inc. The highest PV from the concrete samples was 0.054 cm s-1. Overall the commercial tiles were most efficient at reducing NH2Cl, compared to NOX and VOC compounds. However, the concrete samples had an even higher PV for NH2Cl than the tiles. The reason for this is unknown; however, distinct surface characteristics and a higher concentration of TiO2 in the concrete may have contributed to these findings.