This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, June 2012. Copyright 2012 ASHRAE. Posted at www.ashrae.org.

This article may not be copied and/

or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE. For more information about ASHRAE Journal, visit www.ashrae.org.

Minimum Outdoor Airflow

Using the IAQ Procedure
By Dennis Stanke, Fellow ASHRAE

NSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1-20101 includes three alternative

procedures for determining minimum outdoor airflow (OA) rates:

the ventilation rate procedure (VRP), the indoor air quality procedure
(IAQP), and the natural ventilation procedure (NVP).
The VRP prescribes minimum zonelevel OA rates and procedures to find
system-level OA intake rates. The IAQP
allows compliance based on contaminant
concentrations and perceived air quality, which constitute IAQ performance
criteria. The NVP prescribes minimum
outdoor air opening sizes to ensure local natural (passive) ventilation; in most
cases, naturally ventilated zones must
use mixed-mode ventilation, so either
the VRP or the IAQP must also be applied to determine required mechanical
ventilation whenever passive ventilation
is undesirable or ineffective.

Previous articles2,3 have described

compliance with the VRP requirements. Because most engineers use
the VRP, most building codes base
minimum outdoor airflow requirements on it, and several energy labeling programs and building rating
systems require compliance with the
VRP. This article, however, describes
compliance with the IAQP requirements (see sidebar IAQP Requirements); although not widely used
(primarily because it requires significant judgment on the part of the designer), this valid compliance alter-

*Although Section 6.3.1 seems to require identification of either contaminants-of-concern

or mixtures-of-concern, designers are likely to interpret this as a requirement to identify all
contaminants-of-concern and all mixtures-of-concern; it just makes sense. The Standard 62.1
committee should be asked to interpret this requirement.

26

ASHRAE Journal

native deserves a detailed discussion

and consideration in some cases.

Summary of the IAQP

The following steps must be completed to find the minimum required breathing zone OA rate for each zone using the
IAQP:
1. Identify all contaminants-of-concern and mixtures-of-concern (see sidebar Mixtures-of-Concern) for the zone.*
For simplicity, this article refers to all
indoor contaminants and mixtures and
mixture constituents as zone pollutants.
2. Identify both indoor and outdoor
sources for each zone pollutant.
3. Determine the emission rate for
each zone pollutant from each of its
identified sources.
4. Specify a concentration limit and
exposure time for each individual contaminant, citing an appropriate cogAbout the Author
Dennis Stanke is staff applications engineer for
Trane Commercial Systems, Ingersoll Rand, in La
Crosse, Wis. He is chair of SSPC 189.1.

a s h r a e . o r g

June 2012

nizant authority (see sidebar Cognizant Authority). Specify

concentration limits and exposure times for constituents of
mixtures based on threshold limit values (TLV), for instance,
or reference exposure limits (REL) as shown later.
5. Specify the design limit for perceived IAQ in terms of
the minimum percentage of occupants or visitors expressing
satisfaction with the IAQ in the completed zone.
6. Using mass balance calculations, determine the minimum breathing zone OA rate necessary to meet the concentration established in Item 4 for each individual contaminant and
for each mixture.
7. Find the perceived-IAQ OA rate required to meet the design limit specified in Item 5 by either:
a. Conducting a subjective evaluation in the completed
zone at different OA rates; repeat until the OA rate results in
perceived IAQ, meeting the criteria specified in Item 5, or
b. Establishing that the current zone design meets the criteria for a substantially similar zone wherein a subjective
evaluation has been conducted and the minimum perceived
IAQ specified has been achieved; the breathing zone OA rate
in the new zone must be no less than that determined for the
similar zone.
8. Find the minimum breathing zone OA rate, i.e., find the
largest OA rate among those determined by mass balance for
individual contaminants and for mixture, and by subjective
evaluation of perceived IAQ.
9. Finally, find system-level outdoor air intake flow based
on the breathing zone OA rate found for each zone, using the
appropriate system equations provided in Appendix D for
single-zone systems or the calculation procedures specified
by the VRP for 100% outdoor-air and multiple-zone systems.
The standard allows designers to apply the IAQP in some
zones within a system, and the VRP in other zones, and it requires designers to document design assumptions and calculations, but here we focus on the nine steps listed.

Identify Zone Pollutants: Contaminants and Mixturesof-Concern

The ASHRAE Handbook5 classifies air contaminants as either particulate matter or gases. Designers must consider both
when identifying potential contaminants-of-concern. Designers must also consider mixtures-of-concern to comply with
the IAQP.
Particulate matter comprises both solid and liquid particles,
including bioaerosols.
Gaseous contaminants comprise organic and inorganic gases. Particles and gases may be contaminants-of-concern individually, constituents of mixtures-of-concern, or both.
Mixtures-of-concern can be divided into two categories:
source-related mixtures and impact-related mixtures. Source
mixtures comprise a wide range of contaminants originating
from a known source or process (e.g., diesel fumes or tobacco
smoke); these mixtures can usually be kept out of the zone by, for
example, proper intake placement, prohibiting indoor smoking
or making proper use of local exhaust, so they are not considered
June 2012

IAQP Requirements
6.3 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Procedure. Breathing
zone outdoor airflow (Vbz) and/or system outdoor air
intake flow (Vot) shall be determined in accordance with
Sections 6.3.1 through 6.3.5.
6.3.1 Contaminant Sources. Contaminants or mixtures
of concern for purposes of the design shall be identified. For each contaminant or mixture of concern, indoor
sources (occupants and materials) and outdoor sources
shall be identified, and the emission rate for each contaminant of concern from each source shall be determined.
6.3.2 Contaminant Concentration. For each contaminant of concern, a concentration limit and its corresponding exposure period and an appropriate reference to a
cognizant authority shall be specified.
6.3.3 Perceived Indoor Air Quality. The design level
of indoor air acceptability shall be specified in terms
of the percentage of building occupants and/or visitors
expressing satisfaction with perceived IAQ.
6.3.4 Design Approach. Zone and system outdoor
airflow rates shall be the larger of those determined
in accordance with Section 6.3.4.1 and either 6.3.4.2
or 6.3.4.3, based on emission rates, concentration limits,
and other relevant design parameters (e.g., air cleaning
efficiencies and supply airflow rates).
6.3.4.1 Mass Balance Analysis. Using a steady-state
or dynamic mass-balance analysis, determine the minimum outdoor airflow rates required to achieve the concentration limits specified in Section 6.3.2 for each contaminant or mixture of concern within each zone served
by the system.
6.3.4.2 Subjective Evaluation. Using a subjective occupant evaluation conducted in the completed building,
determine the minimum outdoor airflow rates required
to achieve the level of acceptability specified in Section
6.3.3 within each zone served by the system.
6.3.4.3 Similar Zone. The minimum outdoor airflow
rates shall be no less than those found in accordance with
Section 6.3.4.2 for a substantially similar zone (i.e., in a
zone with identical contaminants of concern, concentration limits, air cleaning efficiency, and specified level of
acceptability; and with similar contaminant sources and
emission rates).
6.3.5 Combined IAQ Procedure and Ventilation Rate
Procedure. The IAQ Procedure in conjunction with the
Ventilation Rate Procedure may be applied to a zone
or system. In this case, the Ventilation Rate Procedure
shall be used to determine the required zone minimum
outdoor airflow, and the IAQ Procedure shall be used
to determine the additional outdoor air or air cleaning
necessary to achieve the concentration limits of the contaminants of concern.
ASHRAE Journal

27

here. Impact mixtures comprise individual contaminants known

to impact the same human organ (e.g., those which impact the
respiratory system, the eyes or the nervous system). Like individual contaminants, mixture constituents must be dealt with using
source control, air cleaning, and/or dilution ventilation.
This article lumps all contaminants-of-concern and mixtures-of-concern as zone pollutants. Zone pollutants generated indoors, as well as those from outdoor sources, must be
identified. Some lists of potential indoor and outdoor contaminants1,6 exist, but a complete list of zone pollutants has not
been published. A complete list(s) would include particles,
gases, and constituents of both source and impact mixtures,
perhaps similar to Table 1. (Note: The remainder of this article
ignores source mixtures; such mixtures can be most easily and
successfully treated by not allowing the source mixture into
the building by, for instance, prohibiting smoking or locating
outdoor air intakes a substantial distance from idling trucks
or buses.) Without such a list, designers must use a variety of
resources to identify zone pollutants.
Its clear the most important step in the IAQPestablishing
zone pollutants, including both contaminants- and mixturesof-concernis not easy and requires considerable designer
judgment.

Sources of Contaminants
Having established a list of zone pollutants, the sources of
each must be identified. Possible indoor sources include people, processes, plants, furnishings, wall coverings, cleaning
products, paints, adhesives, ceiling tiles, plywood, carpet and
so on. Possible outdoor sources include the outdoor air (see
sidebar What About Outdoor Air Quality?), motor vehicles,
industrial operations, dumpsters, cooling towers, cooking exhaust, plants, and so on.
Since there are so many potential zone pollutants, accurately identifying the major sources for each can be very time
consuming for the designer.

Source Strength
With a list of sources for each contaminant-of-concern and
impact-mixture constituent, source strengths must next be determined. All sources must be evaluated for each contaminant
to determine the total emission rate. For instance, if formaldehyde has been identified as a contaminant-of-concern and/or a
mixture constituent, its emission rate from all potential sources
must be determined. Emission rates for various contaminants
from various products have been established, but for many contaminants and for many sources, source strengths must be determined using appropriate field or materials-laboratory testing.
Contaminant source strength for people-related zone pollutants
can be significant, and it depends on factors such as age, gender,
diet and activity level.
Determining source strengths for each contaminant and
mixture constituent can be expensive and time consuming as
well as risky, but mass balance analysis depends on emission
rates, so they must be found or estimated.
28

ASHRAE Journal

Mixtures-of-Concern
A mixture-of-concern may be either a complex mixture of contaminants from a specific source (such as diesel exhaust or environmental tobacco smoke), or it may
be a group of individual contaminants from one or more
sources, where each contaminant is known to impact the
same human organ or system (such as the respiratory
system, the eyes, the skin, and so on). Here, we refer to
the first type as source-mixtures and the second type
as impact-mixtures. Standard 62.1-2010 doesnt currently make this distinction, although it probably should
in the future.

Cognizant Authority
Standard 62.1-2010 defines cognizant authority as
an agency or organization that has the expertise and
jurisdiction to establish and regulate concentration limits
for airborne contaminants; or an agency or organization
that is recognized as authoritative and has the scope
and expertise to establish guidelines, limit values, or concentrations levels for airborne contaminants.

What About OA Quality?

Outdoor air introduced into a building can dilute and
remove indoor-source zone pollutants, but it can also
add contaminants and mixtures from outdoor sources.
Some outdoor pollutants (such as ozone, particulate matter, and odors) can be reduced by air cleaning before
they enter the building, but some (carbon monoxide, for
instance) cannot. In any case, contaminants from outdoors
must be considered either individually, as a mixture constituent, or both. But, remember, most indoor-source zone
pollutants are not present in the outdoor air, so even
dirty outdoor air can dilute and remove indoor-source
pollutants. Some outdoor airflow rate is always needed,
regardless of the procedure used to find it.

Establish Target Concentrations

For each contaminant- and mixture-of-concern, designers
must cite an acceptable concentration and exposure-time
limit established by a cognizant authority. Different authorities often list different acceptable limits and exposure
times for the same contaminantthe designer must judge
which authority to rely upon. Cognizant authorities have
not established acceptable limits for mixtures, so designers
tend to ignore this requirement. But, cognizant authorities
have established threshold limit values (TLVs) for many
impact-mixture constituents and ACGIH has established a
target limit of 1.0 for the sum of the ratios of constituent
a s h r a e . o r g

June 2012

www.info.hotims.com/41640-1

Pollutant
Category

Type

Examples

Example Sources

Impact

Dust (Less than 100 mm)

Wind, Volcanoes, Grinding, Demolition, Burning Fuels, Unpaved

Roads, etc.

Asthma, Nose and Throat

Irritation, Lung Damage

Bioaerosols

Living Things, Including Viruses,

Bacteria, Fungi, Mites,
Plants and Insects

Allergies, Asthma,
Various Diseases, Including
Tuberculosis, Legionnaires
Disease, and Influenza

Mist

Cooling Towers

Evaporation May Increase

Concentration of Bioaerosols

Fog

Condensation

Evaporation May Increase

Concentration of Bioaerosols and
Very Small Particles

Solid
Particulate
Matter

Liquid

Ammonia

Cleaning Products

Respiratory Irritant

Ozone

Electrostatic Appliances, Printers,

Copiers, Outdoor Air

Reduced Lung Function,

Asthma, Eye Irritation

Carbon Monoxide

Incomplete Combustion,
Outdoor Air

Respiratory System Damage

Radon

Soil

Lung Cancer

Formaldehyde

Building Materials, Adhesives,

Insulation

Eye, Nose, and Throat Irritation,

Asthma, Respiratory Symptoms

Benzene

Burning, Automobile Exhaust,

Some Glues, Paints,
and Detergents

Cancer

Other Volatile Organic

Compounds (VOCs)

People, Processes,
Cleaning Products

Odor, Wide Range of

Physical Symptoms

Smoke

Burning Organic Material

See Particulate Matter

Tobacco Smoke

Burning Tobacco

Cancer; See Particulate Matter

Diesel Exhaust

Diesel Fuel Combustion

Cancer; See Particulate Matter,

Inorganic and Organic Gases

Smog

Products of Combustion

See Ozone and Particulate Matter

Example Constituents: Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Ammonia, etc.

Multiple Sources

Respiratory System Impact

Inorganic

Gaseous
Contaminants

Organic

Source
Mixtures

Mixtures
Impact
Mixtures*

Example Constituents: Arsenic,

Benzene, Carbon Disulfide, etc.

Nervous System Impact

Example Constituents: Benzene,

Butadiene, Carbon Disulfide, etc.

Reproductive System Impact

*Example impact-mixture categories based on Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) table (see www.oehha.org/air/allrels.html).

Table 1. Zone pollutants.

concentrations to TLVs (see sidebar Impact Mixture Additivity).
Since different concentration limits can be selected from
different cognizant authorities, designer judgment once again
must be used.

Perceived IAQ
A minimum target level for perceived IAQ must be specified for each zone. For instance, the designer might specify
that at least 70% of visitors to a zone must express satisfaction with the air quality. Setting this target level high means
more filtration or higher OA rates for the zone while setting it
low may lead to odor complaints. Determining the minimum
30

ASHRAE Journal

perceived-IAQ target places another judgment burden on the

designer.

Mass Balance Calculations

Given the emission rates and source strengths found above,
and accounting for the efficiency of air cleaning devices, the
standard requires mass-balance calculations to determine the
minimum breathing zone OA rate needed to achieve the target
concentration limit for each contaminant, and the target sum-ofconstituent-ratios (1.0) for each impact mixture (see sidebar Impact Mixture Calculations). For individual contaminants these
calculations can be time consuming but concentration limits are
clear. For impact mixtures, constituent concentrations must be
a s h r a e . o r g

June 2012

www.info.hotims.com/41640-46

Impact Mixture Additivity

According to Informative Appendix B, contaminants that

act on (impact) the same organ systems should be analyzed
and sufficient OA rate or air cleaning should be provided so
that the sum of concentration ratios for the impact mixture
does not exceed 1.0.
When many chemicals are present in the air, as they almost always are in indoor air, then some way of addressing
potential additive effects is warranted. The ACGIH guidance on the subject instructs that when two or more substances acting on the same organ system are present,
their combined effect, rather than that of either individually,
should be given primary consideration. Information on affected organs is readily available on the websites of the

Impact-Mixture Calculations

According to the ACGIH, when two or more substances

acting on the same organ system are present, their
combined effect, rather than that of either individually,
should be given priority. One way to do this is to: 1) find
the steady-state concentration of each individual constituent, given an OA rate, generation rate, air cleaning efficiency, and so on, 2) find the ratio of each constituent
concentration to its TLV, and 3) add all the ratios together.
If the ratio sum exceeds 1.0, the concentration of one (or
more) of the constituents must be lowered by increasing
the OA rate, decreasing the generation rate, and/or increasing air cleaning efficiency for that constituent. Repeat Steps 1 through 3 until the sum of the concentration
ratios is less than 1.0. This results in an acceptable OA
rate for the impact-mixture being considered. Of course,

found repeatedly by adjusting OA rate, for instance, or filtration efficiency, until the sum-of-constituent-ratios is less than
or equal to 1.0. The mass-balance calculations result in a minimum breathing zone OA rate for each zone contaminant- and
impact-mixture-of-concern. Each zone requires the highest of
these rates to ensure acceptable objective IAQ.
Most designers using the IAQP dont identify impact mixturesthey simply focus on the concentration limits for specific contaminants, and assume they need only introduce the
OA needed for the worst-case contaminant. They dont make
the additivity adjustments, which are the basis for the rates
and calculations in the ventilation rate procedure. By ignoring
the additive nature of impact-mixtures, designers purporting
to use the IAQP often find inappropriately low OA rates. Many
studies in offices show the effective OA rate must be between
15 cfm to 20 cfm (425 L to 566 L) per person for at least 80%
visitor satisfaction. If an IAQP design (without air cleaning)
for an office zone results in an effective OA rate significantly
less than 15 cfm (425 L) per person, the additive quality of
impact-mixtures has probably been overlooked.
32

ASHRAE Journal

cited references for OEHHA and ATSDR. If no contradictory information is available, the effects of the different
substances should be considered as additive. A formula is
given wherein the ratios of the concentrations of each substance with the same health-related endpoint to the threshold limit value for each substance are added. If the sum of
all these ratios exceeds unity, then it is considered that the
concentration value has been exceeded.
C1 C2
C
+ ++ n 1.0
T1 T2
Tn

where
Ci = the airborne concentration of the substance.
Ti = the threshold limit value of that substance.
these calculations must be repeated for each identified
impact-mixture.
For example, assume that a project designer identifies
a particular zone with a respiratory system impact mixture comprising two constituents: acetaldehyde (8-hr Reference Exposure Level of 300 g/m3) and acrolein (8-hr
REL of 0.7 g/m3). (Note: This example uses inhalation RELs
published by OEHHA, an agency of the California Environmental Protection Agency.) If a mass balance analysis at
a given breathing zone OA rate shows that the concentration of acetaldehyde rises to 200 g/m3 and acrolein rises
to 0.3 g/m3, the sum-of-ratios described above results in
200/300 + 0.3/0.7 = 0.67 + 0.43 = 1.10. Since this sum
exceeds 1.0, increasing breathing zone OA rate slightly
lowers the concentration of each constituent, so that the ratio
is equal to or less than 1.0.

Subjective Evaluation
Subjective minimum OA rates must also be found to ensure acceptable perceived IAQ in terms of occupant or visitor
satisfaction. This requires a subjective evaluation of air quality
using either of two approaches:
a. After completion of design, construction and installation, but prior to full operational occupancy, a subjective
evaluation must be conducted in each IAQP zone. While the
standard does not require a specific subjective evaluation procedure, informative Appendix B describes one such procedure. If the initial breathing zone OA rate based on the mass
balance calculations results in less than the target satisfaction
percentage level specified, action must be taken (e.g., increase
the OA rate, reduce emissions by replacing some building materials or furnishings, or increase air cleaning for odors) and
the subjective evaluation must be repeated until the specified
level of acceptability is achieved.
b. Alternatively, designers may identify a substantially
similar zone in a previously constructed building that was
successfully evaluated using the subjective evaluation apa s h r a e . o r g

June 2012

www.info.hotims.com/41640-37

proach described above. The OA rate used in the similar zone

establishes the minimum OA rate needed to satisfy the subjective evaluation requirement. Of course, identifying a similar
zone can be difficult, especially for zones in one-of-a-kind
buildings. A substantially similar zone has similar pollutant
sources and emission rates, similar or identical contaminants,
source-mixtures and impact-mixtures, identical concentration
limits, identical air-cleaning efficiency for each pollutant, and
an identical specified level of perceived acceptability.

Minimum Outdoor Airflow Rates

The minimum zone OA rate determined using the mass balance calculations must be compared to the rate determined
using subjective evaluation. The higher of these two values establishes the minimum breathing zone OA rate for each IAQP
zone. Based on these minimum zone OA rates, system-level
outdoor air intake flow can be found using the equations in
Appendix D of Standard 62.1-2010 (for single-zone systems)
or using the equations in the VRP (for multiple-zone systems).

Summary
The IAQP is a valid procedure that
has apparently been successfully applied to design ventilation systems in
some buildings, especially where the
same building design with substantially similar zones is repeated in multiple
locations. However, for one-of-a-kind
buildings, the IAQP requires designers
to make many difficult judgments. In so
doing, the required minimum OA rates
found using the IAQP are likely to vary
considerably from one designer to the
next, and may be too low in many cases
due to incomplete evaluation of the additive nature of impact-mixtures.
For these reasons, many designers
are uncomfortable with this approach.
Furthermore, most mechanical codes
require a prescriptive procedure based
on the VRP, and only allow the IAQP as
a code variance.
Perhaps more designers will use a future
version of the IAQP, when more is known
about mixtures, sources, air cleaning and
subjective evaluation and when designers
can make fewer judgments with more confidence. But for now, most designers continue to use the prescriptive VRP to reduce
design time, cost, and risk.

References

www.info.hotims.com/41640-59

34

1. ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2010,

Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality.
2. Stanke, D. 2005. Standard 62-2001 Addendum 62n: single-path multiple-zone system design. ASHRAE Journal 47(1):2835.
3. Stanke, D. 2005. Standard 62.1-2004:
designing dual-path, multiple-zone systems
ASHRAE Journal 47(5):2028.
4. 2009 ASHRAE HandbookFundamentals, Chapter 11.
5. 2009 ASHRAE HandbookFundamentals, Chapter 11, Tables 11 and 12.
6. ASHRAE. 2010. 62.1 Users Manual:
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2010.

A S H R A E J o u r n a l

June 2012

www.info.hotims.com/41640-41