Development and validation of a dynamic mass-balance prediction model for indoor particle concentrations in an office room

Abstract The Korean government recommends intermittent operation of air purifiers (APs) as a measure to maintain indoor particulate matter (PM) concentrations below the mandatory standards and reduce exposure to indoor PM2.5 (PM with a diameter smaller than 2.5 μm). However, there is no guideline to inform occupants of when and how long APs should be operated to comply with the standards. In this study, we developed a dynamic mass-balance model to predict indoor PM concentrations in an office considering penetration of outdoor particles, change in number of occupants, and operational status of the AP. The model fit and prediction accuracies were verified using the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D 5157 criteria and the k-fold validation technique. We observed that indoor PM2.5 concentrations were determined by infiltration of outdoor PM2.5, and indoor generation/resuspension by occupants and removal. For PM2.5-10 (2.5 μm