Agnieszka Maliszewska*, Aleksander Szkarowski*,**, Aleksandr Chernykh**
*Koszalin University of Technology, Poland; **St. Petersburg State University of Architecture & Civil Engineering, Russia
corresponding author’s e-mail:
Abstract
The gas supply of apartments, especially with the use of natural gas, is welcomed by the majority of residents. Jest to komfortowe, łatwe w użyciu i stosunkowo tanie źródło energii. The Polish Gas Development Program foresees that in 2022 to 90% of residents of the country will be provided with gas supply. However, this inevitably involves the emission of exhaust gases from gas equipments into air in apartments. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are considered to be the most dangerous components of combustion products for human health. They are created even during complete combustion of fuel and efficiently operating burners.
Air in apartments is a separate type of people’s environment compared to the outside atmosphere and the working area. The man spends in this environment a considerable part of his life comparable with the working time. However, in standards of many countries it is not considered. This complicates the analysis and effective solution of human health protection against the effects of NOx. The sanitary standards of several countries were analysed from this point of view (Tab. 1-6). The Polish norms define the requirements in relation to the air of the apartments, but paradoxically lack nitrogen oxides in them. Therefore, it is currently only possible to orientate on the permissible NOx concentration in the working environment.
The second important issue is the effectiveness of ventilation, which should ensure the discharge of gases generated during the combustion of natural gas. The standards and building regulations of several countries were analysed from this point of view (Tab. 7). It was found that Polish standards for kitchen ventilation are less stringent in terms of global trends. In addition, national building regulations have contradictions that hinder the use of effective solutions at the design stage.
Additional difficulties arise from the very high tightness of the currently used window joiners. This practically prevents the supply of adequate air to the premises through infiltration, which is assumed in the standards.
In order to verify the obtained conclusions, the literature experimental data in this field were analysed (Fig. 1). The own experimental series was then carried out (Tab. 8, Fig. 2). The average operating conditions of the standard equipment have been tested. It has been proven that the concentration of NOx in the kitchen air can significantly exceed the Polish permissible compartments for the working environment and global requirements for living quarters.
In order to ensure the protection of human beings against NOx emitted into the air of gas-supplied housing is requested to introduce urgent changes to national sanitary standards.
The second necessary action is to eliminate inconsistencies in national building regulations in terms of kitchen ventilation. This would allow the use of effective technical solutions already at the design stage.
Keywords
gas supply, gas equipment, health protection, nitrogen oxides, emissions, sanitary standards, building regulations, experimental research
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