ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2974-0403
Current Organisation
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVINT.2017.07.025
Abstract: It has been shown that the exposure to airborne particulate matter is one of the most significant environmental risks people face. Since indoor environment is where people spend the majority of time, in order to protect against this risk, the origin of the particles needs to be understood: do they come from indoor, outdoor sources or both? Further, this question needs to be answered separately for each of the PM mass/number size fractions, as they originate from different sources. Numerous studies have been conducted for specific indoor environments or under specific setting. Here our aim was to go beyond the specifics of in idual studies, and to explore, based on pooled data from the literature, whether there are generalizable trends in routes of exposure at homes, schools and day cares, offices and aged care facilities. To do this, we quantified the overall 24h and occupancy weighted means of PM
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 02-2007
DOI: 10.1111/J.1600-0668.2006.00445.X
Abstract: There have been few recent studies demonstrating a definitive association between the transmission of airborne infections and the ventilation of buildings. The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003 and current concerns about the risk of an avian influenza (H5N1) pandemic, have made a review of this area timely. We searched the major literature databases between 1960 and 2005, and then screened titles and abstracts, and finally selected 40 original studies based on a set of criteria. We established a review panel comprising medical and engineering experts in the fields of microbiology, medicine, epidemiology, indoor air quality, building ventilation, etc. Most panel members had experience with research into the 2003 SARS epidemic. The panel systematically assessed 40 original studies through both in idual assessment and a 2-day face-to-face consensus meeting. Ten of 40 studies reviewed were considered to be conclusive with regard to the association between building ventilation and the transmission of airborne infection. There is strong and sufficient evidence to demonstrate the association between ventilation, air movements in buildings and the transmission/spread of infectious diseases such as measles, tuberculosis, chickenpox, influenza, smallpox and SARS. There is insufficient data to specify and quantify the minimum ventilation requirements in hospitals, schools, offices, homes and isolation rooms in relation to spread of infectious diseases via the airborne route. PRACTICAL IMPLICATION: The strong and sufficient evidence of the association between ventilation, the control of airflow direction in buildings, and the transmission and spread of infectious diseases supports the use of negatively pressurized isolation rooms for patients with these diseases in hospitals, in addition to the use of other engineering control methods. However, the lack of sufficient data on the specification and quantification of the minimum ventilation requirements in hospitals, schools and offices in relation to the spread of airborne infectious diseases, suggest the existence of a knowledge gap. Our study reveals a strong need for a multidisciplinary study in investigating disease outbreaks, and the impact of indoor air environments on the spread of airborne infectious diseases.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2008
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 15-10-2008
DOI: 10.1021/ES801087F
Abstract: The effects of passing ozone over different zeolite and MCM-41 materials to remove toluene were investigated. Different ozone-to-toluene ratios were used to evaluate the catalytic performance during ozonation. The micro- and meso-porous materials removed about 50% of the toluene via adsorption and another 20-40% was decomposed by ozonation, which was catalytically enhanced by the zeolite and MCM-41 materials. The catalytic reaction portion increased by using a higher ozone inlet concentration and it was further enhanced to around 50% with the use of more adsorbents or with longer residence times. Inside the porous structure of the material, ozone was either decomposed into active atomic oxygen for reactions or converted into oxygen for active site regeneration. The number of Lewis acid sites in the adsorbents for ozone decomposition and byproduct generation during the reactions limit the catalytic activities. Trace amounts of intermediates including aldehydes and organic acids were quantified in the ozonation process. A higher ozone inlet concentration helped to reduce intermediate species formation but it led to more residual ozone in the exhaust. The high adsorption capability of the zeolite and MCM-41 adsorbents could serve as reservoirs for suppressing the release of intermediate species to the exhaust.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2009
Publisher: American Scientific Publishers
Date: 04-2012
Abstract: Crystalline Co3O4 nanowire arrays freely supported on Ni foam are successfully synthesized using a template-free method. The effects of reaction time, concentration of reactants, and temperature on the morphology of the nanowires are studied. The results indicate that uniform Co3O4 nanowires could be synthesized at 90 degrees C, and a transformation of the s les' morphology from nanoparticles to nanowires to microrods is observed by controlling the concentration of the reactants. The well-ordered nanowires synthesized under the selected reaction conditions are composed of spinel Co3O4 with diameters of 500-580 nm and lengths of 6-8 microm. These nanowires show good catalytic activity for the ozone catalytic oxidation of toluene.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2008
Publisher: ASMEDC
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1115/ES2007-36159
Abstract: In many Asian countries Coal is frequently used a major fuel in power plants. Burning coal creates quite a lot of environmental problems when compared to other cleaner fuels such as natural gas. Experimental study of co-combustion of coal and biomass was conducted in a laboratory scale combustion facility to evaluate the combustion and pollutant emission performance under different operation parameters. Rice husk and bamboo were used as the biomass fuels in this study. This paper reported the influence of the biomass blending ratio in the fuel mixture and the excess air ratio on the combustion behavior. It was noted that the combustion temperature and the energy output from the co-firing process were reduced compared to coal combustion alone owing to the fact that biomass has lower heating value compared to coal. However, the high volatile matter (VM) content of biomass improved the combustion time scale so that the carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were reduced substantially. In addition, the fuel nitrogen and sulfur content in biomass were lower than that of coal and hence suppressed the formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) during the cocombustion process. The increase of excess air ratio also affected most of the pollutant emissions. The pollutant emission per unit energy output at different excess air ratios and biomass blending ratios were studied in detail in this paper. Attention should be paid to the high potential of slagging and fouling in the boiler when co-firing coal with biomass.
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 13-05-2013
DOI: 10.1111/INA.12044
Abstract: Motivated by growing considerations of the scale, severity, and risks associated with human exposure to indoor particulate matter, this work reviewed existing literature to: (i) identify state-of-the-art experimental techniques used for personal exposure assessment (ii) compare exposure levels reported for domestic/school settings in different countries (excluding exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and particulate matter from biomass cooking in developing countries) (iii) assess the contribution of outdoor background vs indoor sources to personal exposure and (iv) examine scientific understanding of the risks posed by personal exposure to indoor aerosols. Limited studies assessing integrated daily residential exposure to just one particle size fraction, ultrafine particles, show that the contribution of indoor sources ranged from 19% to 76%. This indicates a strong dependence on resident activities, source events and site specificity, and highlights the importance of indoor sources for total personal exposure. Further, it was assessed that 10-30% of the total burden of disease from particulate matter exposure was due to indoor-generated particles, signifying that indoor environments are likely to be a dominant environmental factor affecting human health. However, due to challenges associated with conducting epidemiological assessments, the role of indoor-generated particles has not been fully acknowledged, and improved exposure/risk assessment methods are still needed, together with a serious focus on exposure control.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.BIORTECH.2009.09.008
Abstract: Experiments were conducted in a continuous flow reactor at room temperature to evaluate the elimination of low-concentration toluene in the gas phase to verify if fly-ash products from biomass combustion in an ozonation system could be used in the removal of volatile organic compounds. The fly-ash products from pure biomass combustion (Ash(100)) demonstrated the highest ozonation activities upon the removal of low-concentration toluene (1.5 ppmv), followed by the fly-ash products from co-combustion (Ash(30)) and the coal combustion (Ash(0)). Kinetic experiments showed that the activation energy of the toluene elimination process was substantially reduced with the use of ozone and the reaction intermediates, such as formic acids, aldehydes, etc. Results also showed that the intermediates were reduced with increasing humidity level. The combined use of fly-ash products and zeolite 13X enhanced the removal of toluene to above 90% and suppressed the release of residual ozone and intermediates by holding them in the adsorbed phase.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2011
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 22-09-2010
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2009
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2007
Publisher: ASMEDC
Date: 2007
Abstract: This study investigated the performance of multi-transition metal (Cu, Cr, Ni and Co) ions exchanged zeolite 13X catalysts on methane emission abatement, especially at methane level of the exhaust from natural gas fueled vehicles. Catalytic activity of methane combustion using multi-ions exchanged catalyst was studied under different parameters: mole % of metal loading, inlet velocity and inlet methane concentration at atmospheric pressure and 500 °C. Performance of the catalysts was investigated and explained in terms of the apparent activation energy, number of active sites and BET surface area of the catalyst. This study showed that the multi-ions exchanged catalyst outperformed the single-ions exchanged and the acidified 13X catalysts. Lengthening the residence time could also lead to higher methane conversion %. Catalytic activity of the catalysts was influenced by the mole % of metal loading which played important roles in affecting the apparent activation energy of methane combustion, active sites and also the BET surface area of the catalyst. Increasing mole % of metal loading in the catalyst decreased the apparent activation energy for methane combustion and also the BET surface area of the catalyst. In view of these, there existed an optimized mole % of metal loading where the highest catalytic activity was observed.
Publisher: ASMEDC
Date: 2009
DOI: 10.1115/ES2009-90128
Abstract: The potential use of biomass co-combustion derived fly-ash products and zeolite 13X for the elimination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using ozone was investigated for an integrated solar-assisted air purification and desiccant cooling system. Fly-ash products from rice husk-coal co-combustion at different biomass blending ratios were used as the adsorbent/catalyst materials. The material characteristics of the adsorbent/catalyst materials such as metal content and surface area were compared and correlated with the catalytic activities. It was found that the surface area and the metal constitutes have made the catalytic activities over the fly-ash products from biomass co-combustion superior to that from coal-only combustion. The elevated reaction temperatures from 25°C to 75°C also have significant effects on the removal of VOCs. The apparent activation energies of the reaction path over the fly-ash products with the addition of ozone to the air were reduced, when compared with the use of air as an oxidant. On the other hand, the potential synergy to Zeolite 13X was explored. The combined catalytic ozonation and adsorption enhanced the VOCs removal and at the same time reduced the intermediates emission. Furthermore, the hydrophilic properties of zeolite 13X could be utilized to handle the latent load of the solar-assisted ventilation system for energy conservations.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2018
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1039/C002669G
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-11-2022
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-10-2009
DOI: 10.1098/RSIF.2009.0311.FOCUS
Abstract: The protective role of personalized ventilation (PV) against plausible airborne transmissible disease was investigated using cough droplets released from a ‘coughing machine’ simulating the human cough at different distances (1, 1.75 and 3 m) from the PV user. Particle image velocimetry was used to characterize and visualize the interaction between the cough-generated multiphase flow and PV-induced flow in the inhalation zone of the thermal breathing manikin. A dose–response model for unsteady imperfectly mixed environment was used to estimate the reduction in infection risk of two common diseases that can be transmitted by airborne mode. PV was able to both reduce the peak aerosol concentration levels and shorten the exposure time at all the examined injection distances. PV could reduce the infection risks of two diseases, influenza A and tuberculosis, by between 27 and 65 per cent. The protection offered by PV is less effective at a distance of 1.75 m than the other distances, as shown in the risk assessment results, as the PV-generated flow was blown off by the cough-generated flow for the longest time. Results of this study demonstrate the ability of desktop PV to mitigate the infection risk of airborne transmissible disease.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.BIORTECH.2006.11.051
Abstract: The potential of co-firing rice husk and bamboo with coal was studied in a bench-scale pulverized fuel combustion reactor. Experimental parameters including biomass blending ratio in the fuel mixture, biomass grinding size, excess air ratio and relative moisture content in the biomass were investigated. Particulate Matters in the forms of PM(10), PM(2.1), ultra fine particles as well as the associated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) emissions were evaluated. An operation range between 10% and 30% of biomass to coal ratio was found to be the optimum range in terms of minimum pollutant emissions per unit energy output. Co-combustion of coal with biomass seemed to have the effect of moving the fly-ash in PM(2.1) to a larger size range, but increasing the number counts of the ultra fine particles. It was noted that the much higher volatile matter content in the biomass fuels has played a key role in improving the combustion performance in the system. However, slagging, fouling and formation of clinker could be the issues requiring attention when using biomass co-combustion in conventional boilers.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.JHAZMAT.2006.08.077
Abstract: This study investigated the performance of a combined ozone and zeolite system in eliminating gaseous toluene which is a major contaminant in many industrial and indoor environments. The hypothesis that the removal of toluene by ozone can be substantially affected by confining the oxidation reaction in a zeolite structure was evaluated. The degradation of toluene seemed to be contributed by the active oxygen atom generated from the decomposition of ozone at the Lewis acid sites in the zeolite 13X. Air containing toluene levels at 1.5, 2 and 3 ppm was injected with ozone in the range of 0-6 ppm before being vented into a fixed amount of 3600 g zeolite 13X with 90 mm bed-length. The experimental results showed that the elimination rate of toluene was significantly enhanced when compared to using zeolite or ozone alone. In particular, over 90% of the 1.5 ppm toluene was removed when 6 ppm ozone was used at 40% relative humidity level. Deactivation of the zeolite 13X after a few hours of reactions under the current experimental conditions was probably due to the adsorbed water, carbon dioxide and the reaction by-products. The residue species left in the zeolite and the intermediate species in the exhaust gas stream were characterized by FT-IR, GC-MS and HP-LC methods, respectively. A distinctive peak of O atom attached to the Lewis acid site at 1380 cm(-1) was found in the FT-IR spectrum and trace amount of aldehydes was found to be the reaction by-products.
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Yu Hang Christopher Chao.