Development and empirical study on integrated ventilation–cleaning filter system for removal of harmful substances flowing into ship cabins

Abstract

Marine environment protection and the improvement of the internal environment of ships are emerging as necessary tasks in modern ship operations. In particular, soot and ash, which are harmful substances generated during fuel combustion in diesel engines, enter the interior of a ship, which degrades air quality inside the ship and adversely affects the health of crew members. Because ships are highly confidential compared to general buildings and it is difficult to achieve natural ventilation between the exterior and interior of a ship, various indoor air pollutants can spread rapidly into a ship if adequate ventilation or removal systems are lacking, thereby posing a risk to the respiratory health of passengers and crew members. In this study, a combined ventilation–cleaning filter system was developed to effectively filter out harmful substances and improve the air quality inside the cabin. DB, PM10, and PM2.5, which are harmful particulate substances, and total volatile organic compounds, which are harmful gaseous substances, were measured inside the cabin of a ship to determine its indoor air quality. The measurement results for the fine-particle size concentration showed that PM2.5 and PM10 exhibited a similar increasing and decreasing trend, with pollutant concentrations up to six times higher during departure than at anchoring. The values were higher than the daily limit recommended by the World Health Organization (PM2.5: 25 μg/m3; PM10: 50 μg/m3). Based on the concentrations of volatile organic compounds, the concentration at ship departure showed a similar trend to that of fine particles in the cabin (1659 ppb), which was approximately five times higher than the daily average (333 ppb) recommended by AWAIR. A filter system for ship environments was designed using a simulation tool to address this problem. The filter system consisted of a filter for removing particulate pollutants. By optimizing the system, the pollutants generated from ships and the performance degradation of the existing air-conditioning system were minimized. In addition, we analyzed the current status of gas pollutants inside ships to examine the use of activated carbon attachment filters in removing gaseous pollutants. After filter installation, the fine-particle concentration decreased to a maximum of 25.67 μg/m3 (PM10), indicating a reduction by 2.6 times, and the average air quality increased to 9.7 μg/m3 (PM10). A system that can remove particulate pollutants and gaseous pollutants simul-taneously should be investigated in future studies.