Characterization of Classroom Fine Dust in Urban Elementary Schools

In this study, PM₁₀and PM_2.5were collected in 20 indoor and outdoor spaces of 5 elementary schools in Seoul, and analyzed based on quantitative and qualitative characteristics. The concentrations of PM₁₀and PM_2.5in the classrooms distributed from 31.0 to 96.4 μg/m³and 14.5 to 40.2 μg/m³. The I/O value of PM_2.5was 0.46 to 0.80, indicating that PM_2.5was less in indoors than outdoors. Since there were various sources in the classroom, the organic carbon contained in PM_2.5was 7.1~12.8 μg/m³, which was more than that of inorganic carbon (0.3~1.6 μg/m³) mainly originated from the outside. Among the metal components, Fe was the most found with an average of 0.226 μg/m³, and the concentrations of Pb and As were 0.013 μg/m³and 0.002 μg/m³, respectively. The ionic component, NO₃^-, was the highest at 2.60 μg/m³compared to other ions. Despite the small number of samples (100 filters), this study can contribute to understanding the current school environement by investigating classrooms operating under normal conditions.