Personal Exposure to PM_2.5 in the Various Microenvironments as a Traveler in the Southeast Asian Countries

Air pollution has become a pressing issue in today’s society because of its significant effects on humans, animals, plants, air quality, climate and the wider environment. Most urban areas are associated with one or more air pollutants which are emitted from local or regional pollution sources including vehicle exhausts, fossil fuels using in energy production, emissions from industrial and mining activities, agricultural and construction operations, household usage of chemicals and materials and natural causes. Most personal exposure studies are focused on local environments and short-term periods. Previous controlled experiments and studies were done in a small number of designated areas in cities. Our research study used time-based activity data; 3 main and 17 sub-microenvironments were applied over 37 days-long research while traveling through Southeast Asian countries. In this study, personal exposure of PM_2.5 for a traveler was monitored using an assembled low-cost monitor with Plantower PMS 3003 PM_2.5 sensor which has a light-scattering principle. All time-based activity data was recorded with a smartphone whenever microenvironments changed during the study period. The goal of this study was to understand more about the personal exposure to PM_2.5 related air pollution in the global travel environment as a traveler and to understand how an individual’s activity and location impact PM_2.5 exposure. According to the results from the Southeast Asia study, the personal PM_2.5 exposure varied in the categorized microenvironments. Port/Station (outdoor) and Café/Pub/Restaurant (indoor-outdoor) were the most polluted microenvironments with 32.8 and 29.6 µg/m³ 1-h mean PM_2.5 concentration, respectively. Market/Shopping Mall (indoor), Street (outdoor) and Cable Car/Metro/Tram (vehicle) were also concerning microenvironments with 19.3, 19.3 and 18.9 µg/m³ 1-h mean PM_2.5 concentrations, respectively. Passenger Car microenvironment had the lowest 1-h mean PM_2.5 concentration of 2.3 µg/m³ which agrees with some other studies on transportation microenvironments in the literature.