Evaluation of a High Efficiency Cabin Air (HECA) Filtration System for Reducing Particulate Pollutants Inside School Buses

An increasing number of studies have reported deleterious health effects of vehicle-emitted particulate matter (PM), including PM2.5 (aerodynamic diameter <= 2.5 mu m), black carbon (BC), and ultrafine particles (UPPs, diameter <= 100 nm). When commuting inside school buses, children are exposed to high level of these pollutants due to emissions from both school bus itself and other on-road vehicles. This study developed an on-board high efficiency cabin air (HECA) filtration system for reducing children's exposure inside school buses. Six school buses were driven on two typical routes to evaluate to what extent the system reduces particulate pollutant levels inside the buses. The testing routes included freeways and major arterial roadways in Los Angeles, CA. UFP number concentrations and size distributions as well as BC and PM2.5 concentrations were monitored concurrently inside and outside of each bus. With the HECA filtration system on, in-cabin UP and BC level's were reduced by 88 +/- 6% and 84 +/- 5% on averages across all driving conditions, respectively. The system was less effective for PM2.5 (55 +/- 22%) but successfully kept its levels below 12 mu g/m(3) inside all the buses. For all three types of particulate pollutants, in-cabin reductions were higher on freeways than on arterial roadways.