{"id":13205,"date":"2025-02-13T10:25:27","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T15:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=13205"},"modified":"2025-02-28T08:45:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T13:45:16","slug":"air-inside-your-home-may-be-more-polluted-than-outside-due-to-everyday-chemical-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/Q1\/air-inside-your-home-may-be-more-polluted-than-outside-due-to-everyday-chemical-products","title":{"rendered":"Air inside your home may be more polluted than outside due to everyday chemical products"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2014 When you walk through a pine forest, the crisp, fresh scent is one of the first things you notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But bringing that pine scent or other aromas indoors with the help of chemical products \u2014 yes, air fresheners, wax melts, floor cleaners, deodorants and others \u2014 rapidly fills the air with nanoscale particles that are small enough to get deep into your lungs, Purdue University engineers have found over a series of studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These nanoparticles form when fragrances interact with ozone, which enters buildings through ventilation systems, triggering chemical transformations that create new airborne pollutants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA forest is a pristine environment, but if you\u2019re using cleaning and aromatherapy products full of chemically manufactured scents to recreate a forest in your home, you\u2019re actually creating a tremendous amount of indoor air pollution that you shouldn\u2019t be breathing in,\u201d said Nusrat Jung<\/a>, an assistant professor in Purdue\u2019s Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nanoparticles just a few nanometers in size can penetrate deep into the respiratory system and spread to other organs. Jung and fellow civil engineering professor Brandon Boor<\/a> have been the first to study nanoscale airborne particle formation indoors and compare it to outdoor atmospheric processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo understand how airborne particles form indoors, you need to measure the smallest nanoparticles \u2014 down to a single nanometer. At this scale, we can observe the earliest stages of new particle formation, where fragrances react with ozone to form tiny molecular clusters. These clusters then rapidly evolve, growing and transforming in the air around us,\u201d said Boor, Purdue\u2019s Dr. Margery E. Hoffman Associate Professor in Civil Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a \u201ctiny house lab\u201d \u2014 a dedicated residential lab space for indoor air quality research \u2014 Jung and Boor are using the latest industry-developed air quality instruments to track how household products emit chemicals that evaporate easily, called volatile chemicals, and generate the tiniest airborne nanoparticles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Called the Purdue zero Energy Design Guidance for Engineers (zEDGE) lab<\/a>, the tiny house has all the features of a typical home but is equipped with sensors for closely monitoring the impact of everyday activities on a home\u2019s air quality. Jung led the design of the lab, which was built in 2020 as the first of its kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This \u201ctiny house lab,\u201d which sits outside of Purdue\u2019s Delon and Elizabeth Hampton Hall of Civil Engineering, allows researchers to study indoor air quality more comprehensively than has been possible in other settings. (Purdue University photo\/Kelsey Lefever)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n
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The inside of Purdue\u2019s tiny house lab has various sensors and pieces of equipment to accurately and precisely measure pollutant emissions from common household activities in real time. (Purdue University photo\/Kelsey Lefever)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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