# QAI * -Sport project: Indoor air quality in sports facilities - Characterization of exposure to emerging VOCs and SVOCs and to micro-organisms

Valérie Desauziers, Barbara Le Bot, Pierre Le Cann, Hervé Plaisance, Nathalie Costarramone, Gaëlle Raffy, Emilie Surget

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## ► To cite this version:

Valérie Desauziers, Barbara Le Bot, Pierre Le Cann, Hervé Plaisance, Nathalie Costarramone, et al. QAI * -Sport project: Indoor air quality in sports facilities - Characterization of exposure to emerging VOCs and SVOCs and to micro-organisms. E3S Web of Conferences, 2025, 672, pp.07011. 10.1051/e3sconf/202567207011. hal-05419041

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Submitted on 16 Dec 2025

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# QAI *-Sport project: Indoor air quality in sports facilities - Characterization of exposure to emerging VOCs and SVOCs and to micro-organisms

Valérie Desauziers<fnref n="1" />†, Barbara Le Bot<fnref n="2" />, Pierre Le Cann<fnref n="2" />, Hervé Plaisance<fnref n="1" />, Nathalie Costarramone<fnref n="1" />, Gaëlle Raffy<fnref n="2" />, and Emilie Surget<fnref n="2" />

**Abstract.** This paper aims in presenting the objectives and the scientific approach of the QAI-sport project, funded by ADEME (French Agency for Ecological Transition). The project proposes to characterize exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and microbiological contaminants (molds, viruses and bacteria) by studying ten sports facilities for different activities (martial arts, weight-lifting, motricity in preschools). Initially, non-targeted analyses of these agents will be carried out under occupied and unoccupied conditions, with particular attention paid to emerging pollutants. An in-depth study, carried out on a selection of 3 rooms, will then allow to study the sources and distribution of contaminants (VOCs, SVOCs and micro-organisms) between the gaseous and particulate phases of the air, sedimented dust and the surfaces of materials. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project will also include specific research into Sars-CoV-2. Exposure to biocides used against this virus will also be assessed. For SVOCs, the data obtained will be integrated into a model to predict the behavior of these pollutants in indoor environments. Finally, a study of the migration of VOCs and SVOCs in sweat and synthetic saliva will complete the results for a comprehensive and detailed assessment of exposure routes to these compounds.

## 1 Context and main objectives of the project

The quality of indoor air in sports halls is still little known and little studied, compared to homes and other public buildings. However, the intense activity associated with practicing sport can lead to an increase in exposure through inhalation, with the acceleration of the breathing rate [1], through ingestion of resuspended dust, and through transcutaneous migration facilitated by sweat. The configuration, management and maintenance of premises can also contribute to a deterioration in indoor air quality in sports halls. These include, for example, the occupancy rate of halls, poor ventilation management, the presence of synthetic floor coverings and technical materials that emit pollutants or promote the development and persistence of pathogenic micro-organisms such as coronavirus.

The main aim of the project is to characterise human exposure to chemical and microbiological contaminants in sports halls in function of the type of activity practised.

This paper presents the tasks of the on-going QAI-Sport project as well as the associated objectives and methodologies. The first results are planned to be presented in another ROOMVENT 2024 article.

## 2 Project structuring

The QAI-SPORT project, which is scheduled to last 36 months, comprises 3 operational tasks:

- Selection of the sports halls studied (task 2)

- Characterisation of IAQ of sports halls (task 3)

- Sources and transfer of pollutants in the indoor environment and exposure routes (task 4)

The objectives and methodologies of these different parts of the project are presented hereafter.

## 3 Selection of the sports halls studied (task 2)

### 3.1 Sporting activities in France

The aim was to select a maximum of 10 sports halls of three different types (e.g. fitness or weight training, martial arts, etc.) whose IAQ will be studied in task 3. The selection was based on the literature and the regulations governing sports halls in France. The choice

<footnote n="1">¹IPREM, IMT Mines Ales, Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, E2S UPPA, CNRS, Pau, France</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Univ Rennes, Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de Recherche en Santé, Environnement et Travail), UMR S 1085, Rennes, France</footnote>

<footnote>* QAI : « Qualité de l’Air Intérieur » (Indoor Air Quality)</footnote>

<footnote>† Corresponding author: valerie.desauziers@mines-ales.fr</footnote>
of types of sports halls was based on their occurrence in France, the presence of materials, whether or not specific to the activity practised, which may emit emerging VOCs and SVOCs or which may promote the development of bio-contaminants: plastic floors, fitness and dojo mats, the plastics of body-building equipment, etc.

In 2018 in France, 66% of people aged 15 and over practised a sport at least once a year, and 38% said they did so at least 4 times a week. The most popular activities are running and walking (40%), fitness and gymnastics (22%), swimming (20%) and cycling (18%). More than half of fitness practitioners do at least two sessions a week [2].

Judo, its associated disciplines, karate and other
martial arts have 800,000 members, making martial arts
the 3rd most popular sport in France.

A study carried out in 2019 on the European health and fitness market [3] shows the strong growth of these gyms with 23% increase in Europe between 2017 and 2019 with a number of practitioners amounting to 10 million. France is just behind the UK and Germany, with 6.2 million gym-goers, representing around 10% of the population.

Moreover, since January 2023, IAQ monitoring regulations in France (decree no. 2015-1000, 2015) was extended to childcare facilities for children under the age of six. This concerns nursery schools equipped with motor skills courses.

In light of these data, it would appear that fitness,
which is booming and attracts a very large number of
enthusiasts, and martial arts, the 3rd largest group of
sports with the highest number of licence holders, are
representative of sporting practices in France. This
justifies the selection of fitness centres or weight rooms
and dojos for this study. The new French regulation of
IAQ monitoring also lead to consider motricity rooms
for children under 6.

## 3.2 Bibliometric data on indoor air quality in sports halls

The international literature has produced little knowledge on this topic. Only one review was identified on indoor air quality in sports halls [4]. A bibliometric study carried out in 2017 mentioned a total of 1,281 scientific articles on the subject, of which only 34 contained the following terms: "air pollution" or "air pollutants" or "air quality" and "physical exercise" or "physical activity" or "sport". Scientific production on this topic began in 1975 and, although it has increased significantly over the last twenty years [5], remains relatively small for this type of environment.

The paper of Andrade and Dominski (2018) [4] shows that the study of fitness centres is relatively recent and that the number of these studies increased rapidly from the 2000s onwards, in conjunction with the growing development of this type of sports hall.

In order to update the data of this review article [4], a bibliographic search was carried out on the SCOPUS database using the following keywords: "indoor AND air AND (fitness OR gym OR sport)": 35 publications were identified. The majority of these articles dealt with

indoor air quality in gymnasiums, and only 6 (17%) concerned fitness centres (or weight rooms), confirming that these facilities are still little studied despite their development. The same applies to dojos, where the keywords "indoor AND air AND (dojo OR judo OR tatami)" did not lead to any relevant results.

The lack of knowledge about the IAQ of these types of halls (fitness centres and dojos) therefore supports the selection proposed above based on data on sports activities in France.

## 4 Characterization of IAQ in the sports halls studied (task 3)

According to the task 2, 10 sports halls were selected: 2 dojos, 3 motricity rooms, 3 weight rooms and 2 gyms.

### 4.1 Contaminants investigated

In the review article by Andrade and Dominski (2018) [4], the pollutants studied are mainly CO, CO₂ and particles. By contrast, VOCs (including BTEX) and microorganisms (bacteria and moulds) were the subject of only 14% and 12% of the articles respectively over the period observed (1975 - 2017).

An additional search in the SCOPUS database was carried out on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs). The keywords "indoor AND air AND (fitness OR gym OR sport) AND (VOC OR volatile AND organic AND compounds OR BTEX)" yields around ten articles published between 2011 and 2022, four of which deal with VOCs emitted by humans during sporting activities or in changing rooms.

Although they mainly concern outdoor sports
facilities, more and more studies are being carried out
on synthetic turf or play areas made from recycled
rubber. Between 2008 (the date of the 1st publication in
this field) and 2022, around thirty articles were
identified on SCOPUS using the following keywords:
"turf AND (artificial OR synthetic) AND (toxic* OR
hazard* OR risk*) AND (chemical* OR organic)". Only
seven of these articles mention applications in indoor
environments. The pollutants identified are toxic VOCs
such as benzothiazole and semi-volatile organic
compounds (SVOCs) such as PAHs (polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons), phthalates, etc. These
publications are the only ones, according to the
keywords chosen, dealing with SVOCs in the field of
sports environments.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, numerous publications have appeared on the subject in relation to indoor environments and in particular sports halls. Thirteen articles published between 2020 and 2022 have been listed on SCOPUS using the terms: "indoor AND air AND (fitness OR gym OR sport) AND (Covid OR SARS-Cov-2)".

Along with ventilation, the influence of temperature and humidity on air quality in sports halls is one of the most studied factors. A number of studies on the impact of the occupation of premises or the type of activity on IAQ in sports halls have also been identified.
These bibliometric data support the selection of pollutants to be measured in this IAQ-Sport project: VOCs and SVOCs in the gaseous and particulate phases and micro-organisms (moulds, bacteria and viruses, including SARS-Cov-2), as well as the methodological elements envisaged: study of the influence of occupancy of premises, effect of season and ventilation.

## 4.2 Objectives

The broadest possible screening of VOCs, SVOCs and microbiological contaminants will be carried out to provide a detailed characterisation of indoor air quality in the 10 selected halls. Targeted and non-targeted analytical approaches will focus on identifying and quantifying emerging VOCs and SVOCs, identifying their potential sources (particularly materials), characterizing microbial diversity and looking for the presence of SARS-Cov-2. The viability of the pathogens over time will not be studied. The measurements will be carried out in unoccupied and occupied rooms in order to assess the impact of sporting activity on IAQ.

## 4.3 Methodology

The methodology and the main results of this task are described in another paper of the ROOMVENT 2024 Conference (Desauziers et al, paper n° 494).

# 5 Sources and transfer of pollutants in the indoor environment and exposure routes (task 4)

## 5.1 Objectives

Based on the results of task 3, three rooms with different types of activity and, if possible, with contrasting chemical or microbiological contamination characteristics will be selected. A quantitative study of around ten emerging pollutants (VOCs and SVOCs) selected on the basis of the results of task 3 and their sources will be performed.

The aim will be to quantify the selected chemical agents (VOCs and SVOCs) and to characterise the microbiological diversity in the various environments in order to characterise the mixtures by exposure route (inhalation, ingestion and dermal contact). Two measurement campaigns will be carried out in two different seasons (winter and summer) in occupied conditions.

While VOCs, because of their volatility, are mainly found in the gaseous phase, SVOCs can adsorb onto suspended or sedimented particles and onto surfaces, leading to several potential exposure routes. Characterizing their sources and understanding their distribution in the various compartments of the indoor environment (Fig.1) are therefore key factors in assessing and even predicting exposure routes. An existing predictive model will be evaluated on the basis of the data obtained, and the exposure estimate will be

supplemented by a study of the migration of the pollutants of interest in sweat and saliva.

## 5.2 Methodology

### 5.2.1 Characterization of media and transfer mechanisms

For each selected room, a maximum of 5 materials (specific furniture, floor coverings, etc.) potentially emitting the emerging VOCs and SVOCs identified in task 3 will be characterised. The gaseous concentration of pollutants at the material/air interface (y₀) will be determined on site using the DOSEC and MOSEC passive sampling methods developed by the authors [6-8]. This methodology could also be applied to non-source materials to assess the adsorption of target pollutants on surfaces.

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>**Fig. 1.** Transfer mechanisms in the case of a floor emitting SVOCs (from [9])</figcaption></figure>

Concentrations of VOCs in air will be determined by active sampling on adsorbent tubes followed by thermal desorption – gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (ATD-GC-MS) [10]. SVOCs will be sampled on URG cartridges containing a quartz filter for particle phase sampling and a polyurethane (PU) foam adsorbent for the gaseous phase. Analysis will be carried out by GC-MS-MS [11]. The distribution between the gaseous and particulate phases (<10 µm) will be determined by analysing the filter and the PU foam bed of the URG sampling cartridge separately. These measurements will be used to determine the gas phase concentration (y) and the particulate concentration of the pollutant (qₚ in Fig.1). The partition coefficient Kp can then be calculated by knowing the mass concentration of particles in the air (noted TSP in Fig.1).

The dust will be sampled by vacuum cleaner and analysed by GC-MS-MS using the method already applied in task 3. Part of the sample will be kept for the migration measurements described below.

The microbial flora will also be analysed on the basis of the collected dust, using the high throughput sequencing technique based on extraction of the total DNA from the dust, amplification of the 16S genes for bacteria and ITS genes for moulds.

Temperature and relative humidity will be measured and the air exchange rate will be determined using the ASTM E 741-00 (2006) standard method, which uses
CO₂ as the tracer gas. The air exchange rate is required to estimate the convective transfer coefficients (h and h_s in Fig.1).

## 5.3 Predictive modelling

The proposed modelling approach considers the processes of emission (gas transfer from source materials), adsorption onto indoor surfaces and gas-particle partitioning as illustrated in Fig.1. The model assumes that gas and particle concentrations are homogeneous in the volume of a room (V) with an air flow (Q). It considers the existence of boundary layers between the surfaces of the source materials (A) and the air with a mass transfer coefficient (h) and between the air and the surfaces of the non-source materials (A_s) with a mass transfer (h_s). h and h_s will be determined using the US EPA PARAMS software [12] and by considering the aeraulic conditions of the room (Q, estimated air velocities at the surfaces, V, A_s and A). Assuming that the system has reached a steady state (stability of concentrations in the air), a mass balance of inputs and losses of the compound in the room's air can be written (Eq.1):

$$ \Sigma(h(y_0 - y)A) = \Sigma(h_s (y - y_s)A_s) + Q \cdot y + Q(K_p \cdot \text{TSP} \cdot y) \quad (1) $$

All the parameters in Eq.1 will be measured or estimated. The gas concentration in the room air (y) can be estimated by the model by isolating y (Eq.2):

$$ y = \frac{\Sigma(h \times y_0 \times A) + \Sigma h_s \times y_s \times A_s}{\Sigma(h_s \times A_s) + Q + Q \times K_p \times \text{TSP}} \quad (2) $$

The modelled concentrations of y will be compared with the measured values. The contributions of each part of Eq.1 will be compared with each other to describe the fate of the compound in the indoor environment. This approach has been successfully applied to the case of VOCs in teaching rooms [6] and residential rooms [13] and in the case of SVOCs [9]. The main modification of the proposed model is the inclusion of the adsorbed part of the compound on suspended particles with the determination of K_p. This part was not considered in previous work and appears to be a relevant development in the case of SVOCs.

## 5.4 Exposure routes

Assessment of the exposure of people using the sports halls will be carried out using different routes: ingestion of dust, skin contact, hand-mouth contact using materials found in the halls and dust. This exposure will be estimated using simulants such as saliva and acid and basic sweat during migration tests. These will be carried out according to the following protocols:

- by immersion for saliva,

- by contact using filter paper impregnated with acid sweat and saliva under pressure or by immersion.

After extraction of the simulants and/or filter papers by conventional methods, the extracts will be analysed by GC-MS.

This part will provide insight and knowledge in transfer phenomena according to exposure routes.

A particular attention will be paid to benzalkonium chloride (BAC), used as a biocide on SARS-Cov2. During migration tests on dusts and materials, this quaternary ammonium will be analysed.

Chemical and microbiological agents will be quantified in the various environments in order to characterise the mixtures to which we are exposed, and by the different routes of inhalation, ingestion and dermal contact.

# 6 Expected outcomes

The main results expected from the on-going QAI-Sport project are:

- new knowledge on IAQ in sports halls, emerging organic pollutants, microbiological pollution and the presence or absence of Sars-CoV-2.

- the determination of gas/particle and gas/surface partition constants for SVOCs,

- the determination of parameters characteristic of materials' emission that can be used as input data for a predictive model, making it possible to propose recommendations for the choice of low-emission materials and IAQ management,

- chemical and microbiological characterisation of exposure according to exposure routes in sports halls.

## Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge ADEME, the French Agency for Ecological Transition, for financial support (Contract number: 20162D0018).

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