Evaluation of personal exposure to air pollutants and estimation of the inhaled dose for commuters in the urban area of Milan, Italy

The aim of this study is to evaluate a commuter’s exposure to different pollutants (nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fractionated particulate matter (PM), including ultrafine particles (UFP)), via miniaturized and portable real-time monitoring instruments in different and selected environments; the inhaled doses of these pollutants were also estimated in each of these environments. Experimental data were collected during four working weeks, in two different seasons (winter and summer). Principal results show how higher exposures were measured in Underground (for all PM fractions and NO2) and in Car (UFP), while lower exposure levels were measured in Car (PM and NO2) and in Train (UFP). On the contrary, instead, higher values of inhaled dose were found in environments defined as Other, followed by Walking (ht—High Traffic condition), while lower values were found in Walking (lt—Low Traffic condition) and in Car.