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The fast-growing sensing technology means there is an extensive range of low-cost indoor air quality (IAQ) devices or sensor modules readily available on the commercial market. However, less attention has been paid to exploring people's perceptions and responses to indoor air pollution. Such knowledge is deemed important for improving the design of future IAQ sensors, enhancing public awareness and providing guidance on ways to improve indoor environmental conditions. This study aimed to explore people's perceptions and responses to IAQ under different quasi-experimental environmental conditions and levels of information. The study is reported from the perspective of 16 staff and students at a UK university, held within a prototype smart and modular home built on campus. It compares questionnaire survey responses and focus group interview discussions with actual IAQ concentrations and other influential indoor parameters (indoor air temperature and relative humidity). Study outcomes revealed the importance of understanding contextual factors when developing feedback and communication strategies to best improve people's awareness, acceptance, and behavioural responses to IAQ. Findings highlight the usefulness of focus group discussions in the design of future IAQ sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formic acid (FA) is used across the world for a wide variety of applications spanning from chemical production to textile and pharmaceutical industries. FA can be synthesized efficiently from the lignocellulosic biomass constituent carbohydrates by acid hydrolysis in a dilute aqueous reaction media. Since FA forms an azeotrope with water, its purification, water recycling, and reuse are vital to establishing a cost-competitive process. In this study, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was implemented to determine the desired separation method for isolating FA from a 3 wt.% aqueous solution by considering the advantages and disadvantages of each process. Four parameters named scalable, quality of the final product, repeatable, and energy consumption, were defined as criteria to perform AHP analysis. Furthermore, six alternative approaches, namely (i) azeotropic distillation, (ii) extractive distillation with a liquid solvent and (iii) solid salt, (iv) the combination of liquid solvent and solid salt, (v) pressure-swing distillation, and (vi) liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) were examined to decide the most preferred separation method concerning the goal, which is the desired separation method. The AHP results indicated that the alternative approach, the LLE, and the scalable criteria have the highest preference with 39.4% and 54% priority, respectively. The proposed process based on the alternative approach could extract 99% of FA by using diethyl ether. Moreover, an estimated minimum selling price (MSP) of 2.48 $/kg FA with 97.4% purity was achieved by using a technoeconomic assessment for a typical plant with 1715 ton/day capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]