Search

Formaldehyde, an air pollutant in the indoor environment, may have severe effects on human health. The aim of this study is to compare the health effects caused by intermittent exposure to formaldehyde (based on real monitoring) to those caused by exposures at constant concentration. Health effects explored in this study including the oxidative stress, histopathological changes, inflammatory responses, etc. Mice were divided into three groups and exposed to intermittent concentration formaldehyde (0.8 ppm for 12 h and 0 ppm for another 12 h), or constant concentration formaldehyde (0.4 ppm for 24 h) or zero concentration formaldehyde (reference) per day for 7, 14, and 28 days. Following these exposures, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), lung tissue and lung tissue homogenate were prepared to measure biomarkers of oxidative stress (ROS, MDA, GSH), histopathological changes, inflammatory responses (EOS, NEU, LYM, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-6, IL-17A, NF-κB, IL-1β) and apoptosis (caspase-3). Compared to the constant exposure, intermittent exposure to fluctuating formaldehyde concentrations resulted in more profound increases in numbers of inflammatory cells in the BALF, greater biological alterations including apoptosis. The findings imply that with the same average indoor formaldehyde concentrations over the same time, a ventilation strategy to avoid higher peak concentrations would lead to lower health risks.

Temperature and relative humidity can simultaneously change in indoor environment, which significantly affect the emission rate of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from building materials. Prior studies generally focus on the single effect of temperature or relative humidity, and the combined effect is not considered. This paper investigates the comprehensive influence of temperature and relative humidity on the emission rate of pollutants from building materials. Correlation between the emission rate and the combined environmental factors is derived theoretically. Data in literature are applied to validate the effectiveness of the correlation. With the correlation, the indoor formaldehyde concentration in summer is predicted to be 1.63 times of that in winter in Beijing, which is approximately consistent with surveyed data. In addition, a novel approach is proposed to assess the human health impact due to pollutants emitted from building materials at varied temperature and relative humidity. An association between the human carcinogenic potential (HCP) and the environmental factors is obtained. By introducing a reference room model developed previously, it is calculated that the HCP of bedroom at high relative humidity (70%, 25°C) for formaldehyde exceeds 10 - 4 cases, meaning high cancer health risk. This study should prove useful for evaluating the emission behaviors and the associated exposure of pollutants from building materials at varied environmental conditions., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The initial emittable concentration (Cm,0) is a key parameter characterizing the emission behaviors of formaldehyde from building materials, which is highly dependent on temperature but has seldom been studied. Our previous study found that Cm,0 is much less than the total concentration (C0,total, used for labeling material in many standards) of formaldehyde. Because Cm,0 and not C0,total directly determines the actual emission behaviors, we need to determine the relationship between Cm,0 and C0,total so as to use Cm,0 as a more appropriate labeling index. By applying statistical physics theory, this paper derives a novel correlation between the emittable ratio (Cm,0/C0,total) and temperature. This correlation shows that the logarithm of the emittable ratio multiplied by power of 0.5 of temperature is linearly related to the reciprocal of temperature. Emissions tests for formaldehyde from a type of medium density fiberboard over the temperature range of 25.0-80.0 °C were performed to validate the correlation. Experimental results indicated that Cm,0 (or emittable ratio) increased significantly with increasing temperature, this increase being 14-fold from 25.0 to 80.0 °C. The correlation prediction agreed well with experiments, demonstrating its effectiveness in characterizing physical emissions. This study will be helpful for predicting/controlling the emission characteristics of pollutants at various temperatures.

Mass transfer models are useful in predicting the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde from building materials in indoor environments. They are also useful for human exposure evaluation and in sustainable building design. The measurement errors in the emission characteristic parameters in these mass transfer models, i.e., the initial emittable concentration (C 0), the diffusion coefficient (D), and the partition coefficient (K), can result in errors in predicting indoor VOC and formaldehyde concentrations. These errors have not yet been quantitatively well analyzed in the literature. This paper addresses this by using modelling to assess these errors for some typical building conditions. The error in C 0, as measured in environmental chambers and applied to a reference living room in Beijing, has the largest influence on the model prediction error in indoor VOC and formaldehyde concentration, while the error in K has the least effect. A correlation between the errors in D, K, and C 0 and the error in the indoor VOC and formaldehyde concentration prediction is then derived for engineering applications. In addition, the influence of temperature on the model prediction of emissions is investigated. It shows the impact of temperature fluctuations on the prediction errors in indoor VOC and formaldehyde concentrations to be less than 7% at 23±0.5°C and less than 30% at 23±2°C.

Objective: To assess health risks associated with inhalation exposure to formaldehyde and benzene mainly emitted from building and decoration materials in newly remodeled indoor spaces in Beijing., Methods: We tested the formaldehyde and benzene concentrations in indoor air of 410 dwellings and 451 offices remodeled within the past year, in which the occupants had health concerns about indoor air quality. To assess non-carcinogenic health risks, we compared the data to the health guidelines in China and USA, respectively. To assess carcinogenic health risks, we first modeled indoor personal exposure to formaldehyde and benzene using the concentration data, and then estimated the associated cancer risks by multiplying the indoor personal exposure by the Inhalation Unit Risk values (IURs) provided by the U.S. EPA Integrated Risk Information System (U.S. EPA IRIS) and the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), respectively., Results: (1) The indoor formaldehyde concentrations of 85% dwellings and 67% offices were above the acute Reference Exposure Level (REL) recommended by the OEHHA and the concentrations of all tested buildings were above the chronic REL recommended by the OEHHA; (2) The indoor benzene concentrations of 12% dwellings and 32% offices exceeded the reference concentration (RfC) recommended by the U.S. EPA IRIS; (3) The median cancer risks from indoor exposure to formaldehyde and benzene were 1,150 and 106 per million (based on U.S. EPA IRIS IURs), 531 and 394 per million (based on OEHHA IURs)., Conclusions: In the tested buildings, formaldehyde exposure may pose acute and chronic non-carcinogenic health risks to the occupants, whereas benzene exposure may pose chronic non-carcinogenic risks to the occupants. Exposure to both compounds is associated with significant carcinogenic risks. Improvement in ventilation, establishment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emission labeling systems for decorating and refurbishing materials are recommended to reduce indoor VOCs exposure.

The indoor pollution caused by formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from building materials poses an adverse effect on people's health. It is necessary to understand and control the behaviors of the emission sources. Based on detailed mass transfer analysis on the emission process in a ventilated chamber, this paper proposes a novel method of measuring the three emission characteristic parameters, i.e., the initial emittable concentration, the diffusion coefficient and the partition coefficient. A linear correlation between the logarithm of dimensionless concentration and time is derived. The three parameters can then be calculated from the intercept and slope of the correlation. Compared with the closed chamber C-history method, the test is performed under ventilated condition thus some commonly-used measurement instruments (e.g., GC/MS, HPLC) can be applied. While compared with other methods, the present method can rapidly and accurately measure the three parameters, with experimental time less than 12h and R(2) ranging from 0.96 to 0.99 for the cases studied. Independent experiment was carried out to validate the developed method, and good agreement was observed between the simulations based on the determined parameters and experiments. The present method should prove useful for quick characterization of formaldehyde/VOC emissions from indoor materials., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Formaldehyde, which is recognized as a harmful indoor air pollutant for human health, is emitted mainly from urea-formaldehyde resin in wood products. Chamber tests are used to evaluate formaldehyde emission rates from these products. However, there is no available formaldehyde standard reference emission source to assess the performance of chamber testing systems. In this work, a LIFE (liquid-inner tube diffusion-film-emission) formaldehyde reference is described. The formaldehyde source consists of a polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE) tube that holds a formaldehyde-water solution with a concentration of 16 g formaldehyde per 100 mL water, with a thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film cover. Formaldehyde emission parameters for the PDMS film (diffusion coefficient and partition coefficient) were determined experimentally, thereby enabling the prediction of the formaldehyde emissions from the source for use as a reference value in a chamber. Chamber tests were conducted in a 51 L stainless steel ventilated chamber. The impacts of temperature and relative humidity on the emissions were investigated. Results show the LIFE's chamber test results match those predicted by a mass transfer model. As a result, this formaldehyde source may be used to generate a reference concentration in product emission testing chambers, thereby providing a powerful tool to evaluate the performance of the chamber testing systems.

The diffusion coefficient (D(m)) and material/air partition coefficient (K) are two key parameters characterizing the formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOC) sorption behavior in building materials. By virtue of the sorption process in airtight chamber, this paper proposes a novel method to measure the two key parameters, as well as the convective mass transfer coefficient (h(m)). Compared to traditional methods, it has the following merits: (1) the K, D(m) and h(m) can be simultaneously obtained, thus is convenient to use; (2) it is time-saving, just one sorption process in airtight chamber is required; (3) the determination of h(m) is based on the formaldehyde and VOC concentration data in the test chamber rather than the generally used empirical correlations obtained from the heat and mass transfer analogy, thus is more accurate and can be regarded as a significant improvement. The present method is applied to measure the three parameters by treating the experimental data in the literature, and good results are obtained, which validates the effectiveness of the method. Our new method also provides a potential pathway for measuring h(m) of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) by using that of VOC.

The initial emittable formaldehyde and VOC concentration in building materials (C(0)) is a key parameter for characterizing and classifying these materials. Various methods have been developed to measure this parameter, but these generally require a long test time. In this paper we develop a convenient and rapid method, the variable volume loading (VVL) method, to simultaneously measure C(0) and the material/air partition coefficient (K). This method has the following features: (a) it requires a relatively short experimental time (less than 24 h for the cases studied); and (b) is convenient for routine measurement. Using this method, we determined C(0) and K of formaldehyde, propanal and hexanal in one kind of medium density fiberboard, and repeated experiments were performed to reduce measurement error. In addition, an extended-C-history method is proposed to determine the diffusion coefficient and the convective mass transfer coefficient. The VVL method is validated by comparing model predicted results based on the determined parameters with experimental data. The determined C(0) of formaldehyde obtained via this method is less than 10% of the total concentration using the perforator method recommended by the Chinese National Standard, suggesting that the total concentration may not be appropriate to predict emission characteristics, nor for material classification.

Asthma is a complex pulmonary inflammatory disease, which is characterized by airway hyper-responsiveness, airflow obstruction, and airway inflammation. Exposure to a number of chemicals including formaldehyde (FA) can lead to asthma. This study aimed to explore the underlying role of FA exposure in occupational asthma, especially when it is combined with allergen exposure. Balb/c mice were randomly divided into six groups (n = 6/group): (1) saline control; (2) ovalbumin (OVA)-immunized (OVA(imm)) only; (3) 0.5 mg FA/m(3) exposure; (4) OVA(imm) + 0.5 mg FA/m(3); (5) 3.0 mg FA/m(3) FA exposure; and, (6) OVA(imm) + 3.0 mg FA/m(3). These low and high exposure FA levels were adopted from current (0.5 mg/m(3)) and original (3.0 mg/m(3)) Chinese Occupational Threshold Limit Values. Experiments were conducted after 3 week of combined exposure and a 1-week challenge with aerosolized OVA. Airway hyper-responsiveness, pulmonary tissue damage, eosinophil infiltration, and increased interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-6 levels in lung tissues were found in the OVA + 3.0 mg FA/m(3) hosts as compared to values seen in the OVA-immunized only mice. The results here suggest to us that FA exposure can induce and aggravate asthma in Balb/c mice when it is combined with OVA immunization.

Thermal catalytic oxidation (TCO) technology can continuously degrade formaldehyde at room temperature without added energy. However, there is very little knowledge on the TCO kinetic reaction mechanism, which is necessary in developing such air cleaners and in comparison with other air cleaning techniques. This paper addresses the problem of a novel TCO catalyst, Pt/MnO(x)-CeO(2). The experiments measuring the outlet concentrations of formaldehyde and other possible byproducts were conducted at temperatures of 25, 40, 60, 100, and 180 °C and at a series of inlet formaldehyde concentrations (280-3000 ppb). To measure the concentrations precisely and real timely, proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) was used. We found the following from the experimental results: (1) no byproducts were detected; (2) the bimolecular L-H kinetic model best described the catalytic reaction rate; (3) the activation energy of the oxidation was about 25.8 kJ mol(-1); (4) TCO is most energy efficient at room temperature without auxiliary heating; (5) compared with photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) which needs ultraviolet light radiation, the reaction area of TCO can be much larger for a given volume so that TCO can perform much better not only in formaldehyde removal efficiency but also in energy saving.

The initial emittable concentration (C(m,0)), the diffusion coefficient (D(m)), and the material/air partition coefficient (K) are the three characteristic parameters influencing emissions of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from building materials or furniture. It is necessary to determine these parameters to understand emission characteristics and how to control them. In this paper we develop a new method, the C-history method for a closed chamber, to measure these three parameters. Compared to the available methods of determining the three parameters described in the literature, our approach has the following salient features: (1) the three parameters can be simultaneously obtained; (2) it is time-saving, generally taking less than 3 days for the cases studied (the available methods tend to need 7-28 days); (3) the maximum relative standard deviations of the measured C(m,0), D(m) and K are 8.5%, 7.7%, and 9.8%, respectively, which are acceptable for engineering applications. The new method was validated by using the characteristic parameters determined in the closed chamber experiment to predict the observed emissions in a ventilated full scale chamber experiment, proving that the approach is reliable and convincing. Our new C-history method should prove useful for rapidly determining the parameters required to predict formaldehyde and VOC emissions from building materials as well as for furniture labeling.

The initial mobile formaldehyde concentration, C(m,0); the partition coefficient, K; and the diffusion coefficient, D, of a dry building material are key parameters to characterize formaldehyde emissions from the building material. The solvent extraction method and direct thermal desorption method can overestimate C(m,0) because of high temperature. A new method has been developed to determine C(m,0) under similar conditions to common indoor environment, together with K and D. In the proposed method, the tested materials are placed in an airtight environmental chamber for which the temperature can be controlled by a water bath, then the materials undergo a multisorption/emission process and the instantaneous formaldehyde concentration in the chamber is recorded. The K and C(m,0) are determined from the equilibrium concentrations after every sorption by means of the linear least-square regression, and D is obtained by fitting the concentration at the emission stage into a mass-transfer-based model in the literature. Four kinds of wooden medium-density boards are tested. The C(m,0) measured using this method is the mobile formaldehyde concentration in the material, which differs significantly from the total formaldehyde concentration in the material measured by using the traditional method recommended by the Chinese standard (GB/T 17657-1999) extraction method. This means that the mobile formaldehyde takes only a small portion of the total quantity in the tested material. The K, D, and C(m,0) values measured using this new method are used to predict formaldehyde concentrations for sorption processes. The results agree well with experimental data. In addition, some factors influencing the accuracy are analyzed.

Exposure to formaldehyde causes a variety of adverse health outcomes, while the distributions of indoor formaldehyde in different building types are still not clear in China. In this study, based on the systematic review of previously published data and Monte Carlo simulation, we assessed geographical and temporal distributions of indoor formaldehyde concentrations in residences, schools, and offices across China. A total of 397 studies covered 34 provincial‐level regions since 1986 were collected. The results showed that indoor formaldehyde concentrations in residences, schools, and offices in nationwide were decreasing over years due to the publishment of indoor air quality standards since 2002. During 2011 to 2015, the median concentrations of indoor formaldehyde in newly renovated residences, schools, and offices were 153 μg/m3, 163 μg/m3, and 94 μg/m3, with an exceeding rate of 82%, 46%, and 91% considering a standard threshold of 100 μg/m3 at that time, while the exceeding rate was less than 5% for buildings that were renovated beyond one year. Our findings release the temporal trends and geographic distributions of indoor formaldehyde concentrations in residences, schools, and offices in China in the past 30 years, and provide basic data for the comprehensive evaluation of disease burden attributable to indoor formaldehyde exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to VOCs causes a variety of adverse health effects, with much of the exposure occurring at home during sleep. The use of an air cleaner maybe an effective and convenient way to reduce associated exposures and health risks. Studies about the impacts of air cleaner on VOCs are limited. The main objective of this paper was to assess the inhalation health risks that toxic VOCs present during nighttime sleep and to estimate the removal effectiveness of an indoor air cleaner on these VOCs. Asthmatic children, who are especially vulnerable to the detrimental effects of air pollutants, were recruited and the VOC concentrations in their bedrooms were measured during two periods - once with a true air cleaner and once with a sham air cleaner. Among the toxic VOCs quantified, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and toluene had the highest concentrations (median: 18.0, 14.0 and 12.1 μg/m³, respectively) in the bedrooms. Health risk assessments were conducted to identify compounds of greatest concern. During nighttime sleep, 7 VOCs presented inhalation cancer risk above the acceptable risk (1 × 10−6), 4 VOCs exceeded the non-cancer risk threshold (1) in most of the homes tested. The results indicate that the use of an air cleaner in residences may lead to significant reductions in VOC concentrations indoors, but even with this reduction, the associated health risks are still of concern. This study highlights the need for reductions in toxic VOCs at home, points to the imminent need for improvements in control of VOC sources. Image 1 • Indoor and outdoor levels and inhalation health risks of toxic VOCs in 20 asthmatic children's homes were analysed. • The contribution of air cleaners on 13 toxic VOCs in asthmatic children's homes were assessed. • Stressed the need to reduce the exposure to toxic VOCs, especially in formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, 1,2-DCP, benzene and 1,4-DCB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The initial emittable concentration (C 0), diffusion coefficient (D m), and material/air partition coefficient (K) are the three characteristic parameters influencing emissions of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from building materials. In existing studies, two types of C-history methods (using either sealed or ventilated chambers) have been developed to simultaneously measure these three parameters. However, they both require the emission time (t) to be longer than a specific value, which may prolong the experimental time and reduce the method accuracy. In order to overcome this limitation, we propose an improved C-history method based on the completely analytical solution of the mass transfer model describing the VOC emission process. The improved method is validated by experimental results, proving that it is reliable and convincing. Finally, optimization of experiment conditions (e.g., air exchange rate and material load) and effects of experimental errors introduced by different sources are discussed and analyzed to improve the accuracy and stability of the improved method. Highlights • An improved C-history method is proposed to measure the VOCs emission parameters. • Requirements for experimental time of existing methods are eliminated. • Experiment conditions are optimized to improve the accuracy. • Sources and influence of errors are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to indoor formaldehyde has been reported to be relevant to several adverse health effects, especially in occupational exposure scenarios. In this study, a systematic review and meta-analysis has been conducted for epidemiological studies published between January 1980 and December 2017 in order to summarize available evidence and to obtain concentration-response (C-R) relationships between different health outcomes and formaldehyde exposure in residences, offices or schools. We searched four databases to identify the related studies. Finally, we selected 31 studies through the systematic review, and included 23 studies in the meta-analysis. The results show that the pooled odds ratios (ORs) for asthma in children were 1.27 (95% CI: 1.20–1.35) in eastern countries and 1.03 (95% CI: 1.02–1.04) in western countries per 10 μg/m3 increase in formaldehyde concentration. For asthma in adults, the pooled OR was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.03–1.15) per 10 μg/m3 increase of formaldehyde concentration. We did not obtain significant associations of formaldehyde exposure with dermatitis or rhinitis. Our findings provide robust evidences for C-R relationships of formaldehyde exposure in civil buildings for different adverse health outcomes. The obtained C-R relationships can be helpful to estimate the attributable disease burden of indoor formaldehyde exposure. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relative humidity (RH) is one of the main environmental factors affecting the emission behaviours of formaldehyde from building materials. Meanwhile, the initial emittable concentration ( C m,0 ) is proved to be the most sensitive key parameter to the emission behaviours. However, there is no report on the relationship between RH and C m,0 . In this paper, C m,0 of formaldehyde from a type of medium density fiberboard in RH range of 20%-85% were tested by the ventilated C-history method. Experimental results show that C m,0 increased by 10 times when RH rising from 20% to 85%. A linear relationship between ln( C m,0 ) and RH is obtained based on the experimental results. A correlation characterizing the association of emission rate and RH is also derived. With the correlations, the C m,0 or emission rate different from test RH conditions can be conveniently obtained. This study should be useful for predicting the emission characteristics under varied RH conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adsorption material is widely used to remove gas phase indoor air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds. The commonly used parameter, the adsorption capacity, is not sufficient to determine how much of a gas phase pollutant can be removed in a given time period. In this study, we put forward a new parameter (Va,c*, the normalised volume of air cleaned) and an approach to select the most suitable adsorption material for given conditions. We find that Va,c* of a single adsorbent pellet is the function of the Biot number for mass transfer (Bim), the air–adsorbent interface partition coefficient (K) and the Fourier number (Fom). The correlation between them is derived, which enables us to determine the most suitable adsorption material under given conditions. The Va,c* of a fixed-bed air filter is also presented, from which the required quantity of material or the filter size can be determined too. Some examples illustrating how to use the parameter and the approach are presented. This new parameter and approach are very helpful for selecting adsorption materials and developing adsorption filters for removing gas phase indoor air pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Formaldehyde and VOC emissions from wood-based panels are recognized as one of the major causes of poor indoor air quality. These emissions may be strongly influenced by the raw materials and manufacturing techniques of the panels. However, there is very little published information regarding this issue. In this study we determine and compare formaldehyde and VOC emissions, including their species and content, at different manufacturing stages of wood-based panels such as urea-formaldehyde resin, wood chip, wood fiber after resin application, medium density fiberboard, and phenol-formaldehyde resin. We found that: (1) in total, 34 individual VOCs were identified, but none of them were in all the specimens, indicating considerable VOC species changes during the manufacturing process; (2) the formaldehyde in wood-based panels came primarily from urea-formaldehyde resin, and there existed a linear relationship between the formaldehyde content in resins and formaldehyde specific emission rate from wood-base panels; (3) VOCs in wood-based panels mainly came from the wood chips; (4) the drying and hot-pressing techniques were helpful in reducing the formaldehyde and VOC emissions from wood-based panels. Some suggestions are presented for the control of formaldehyde and VOC emissions from wood-based panels during the manufacturing process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The influence of fins on formaldehyde removal in annular photocatalytic reactors was theoretically, numerically and experimentally studied. The simulated and experimental results agreed well. It was found that mass transfer tends to be the bottleneck of formaldehyde removal in conventional annular photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) reactors. When using fins coated with titania in a PCO reactor, the reaction area is greatly increased and the convective mass transfer is, therefore, obviously enhanced. The reaction coefficient may, however, be reduced. On the whole, the formaldehyde removal performance in an annular PCO reactor can be obviously improved by adding fins to the reactor. This analysis is helpful for annular PCO reactor design, and for performance optimization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We have developed a new method, the mass transfer based (MTB) method, for measuring the Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) rate form reaction coefficients of photocatalysts. The conventional method for determining the reaction coefficients disregards the effect of mass transfer on the reaction surface by designing and controlling a reaction process to be reaction-limited. In contrast, the new MTB method takes the mass transfer effect into account by using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The reaction coefficients can be regressed by the measured reaction rates and the calculated VOC concentrations in the air adjacent to the reaction surface. Thus, by using the new method, the reaction coefficient of a reaction process can be accurately determined even if it is not reaction-limited. This is very important in cases where it is difficult to realize reaction-limited processes, such as photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs with strong UV radiation intensity. The relative error of the regressed reaction coefficients obtained by the new method is analyzed. To illustrate, we apply this method to measuring the reaction coefficients of TiO2 photocatalytic decomposing formaldehyde. This method is very useful in determining the reaction coefficients of the photocatalytic oxidation of various VOCs simultaneously. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A general analytical model for characterizing emission and sorption of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in single-layer building materials is developed. Compared with traditional models, the present model can be applicable for four kinds of typical physical processes, i.e., emission in ventilated and airtight chambers, and sorption in these two types of chambers. Based on the general analytical model, a novel method is proposed to determine the characteristic parameters (the diffusion coefficient, D m, and the material/air partition coefficient, K) of formaldehyde and VOC sorption in ventilated and airtight chambers. It establishes a linear relationship between the logarithm of dimensionless excess concentration and sorption time, and the D m and K can be conveniently obtained from the slope and intercept of the regression line. The results of applying the present model are compared with the experimental data in the literature. The good agreement between them not only validates the model but also demonstrates that the measured characteristic parameters are accurate and reliable. The general analytical model should prove useful for unified characterization and prediction of emission/sorption in building materials as well as for parameter measurement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Air pollution in China is an ongoing concern, with subsets of the population (e.g., asthmatic children) especially susceptible to the associated health effects. In addition, people spend the majority of their time indoors, where pollutant composition may differ from the better characterized ambient environment. Although volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present health risks and have high concentrations indoors, their sources have not been thoroughly quantified in typical homes in suburban China. Similarly lacking is an understanding of how well a purifier with high efficiency particulate air and activated carbon filters can remove VOCs in a real-world setting in China. In this study, we a) quantified total VOCs (TVOC) and 900 + individual VOCs in 20 homes in China, b) identified potential sources of VOCs, and c) evaluated impacts of filtration. We used non-negative matrix factorization, a variable reduction technique, to identify sources. TVOC and individual compounds had higher concentrations indoors than outdoors (mean [range] indoors, filtration with pre-filter only: 302 [56–793] μg m−3; outdoors, entire study: 92 [26–629] μg m−3), indicating prevalent sources indoors. Many compounds detected have not, to our knowledge, been measured in homes in China. Some compounds (e.g., octanal, heptanal, ⍺-cedrene) were specific to the indoor environment, a few were ubiquitous (e.g., acetaldehyde, formaldehyde), and others were detected infrequently. These compounds may originate from consumer products, solvents, vehicle emissions, a hexane source, wooden products, and cooking. Filtration may improve air quality indoors by lowering concentrations of some VOCs, and, specifically, contributions related to solvents and consumer products. Image 1 • Volatile organic compounds, many of which pose health risks to humans, are prevalent indoors. • We quantified 900 + VOCS/aldehydes in 20 homes in suburban Shanghai. • Sources of VOCs were identified using non-negative matrix factorization. • Use of an air purifier may reduce concentrations of some VOCs in the home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental chamber systems are usually employed in the testing of volatile organic compound (VOC) and formaldehyde emissions from building materials. The measurement accuracy of environmental chamber systems can be evaluated by VOC/formaldehyde emission references. However, the available VOC/formaldehyde emission references all have some limitations for applications to various scales of chambers. A framework for designing and using a target VOC/formaldehyde emission references to evaluate the performance of chamber systems for measuring VOC/formaldehyde emissions from building materials is studied. Liquid-inner tube diffusion-film-emission (LIFE) reference is improved in this study to meet the requirements of a target VOC/formaldehyde emission reference, such as reliability, similarity as building materials, efficiency for measurement. Equivalent emission characteristic parameters are designed for a toluene LIFE reference to perform similar to a building material. Chamber test of the LIFE reference is made in a 30 m3 stainless steel ventilated environmental chamber at 23 ± 1 °C and 50 ± 5% relative humidity. The experimental data match the predictions using LIFE emission model as well as building material emission model. The improvement of the LIFE reference enables its application for the evaluation of the performance of all kinds of environmental chambers as a general reference in tests of VOCs/formaldehyde emissions from building materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Based on the extraction method presented by , this paper proposes an improved method, the multi-emission/flush regression method, to simultaneously determine the initial emittable concentration and the partition coefficient. Compared to the extraction method, the proposed method has the following advantages: (1) it is unnecessary for the target volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to emit completely from the material, thus greatly reducing experimental time; (2) it provides a simpler way to obtain the partition coefficients of VOCs for tested materials and can avoid the measurement uncertainties at low VOC concentrations which often occur during the last few cycles of the extraction method; (3) it does not require grinding the building material into powders thus making this method more convenient to use. Comparisons were made between the initial emittable VOC concentrations determined by the original extraction method and the proposed method. Results show good agreements between these two methods. To further validate the proposed method, the type of static chamber developed by was used to conduct the experiment for a type of medium density board, and formaldehyde was selected as the target compound. Based on the initial emittable concentration and partition coefficient obtained using the proposed method, and the diffusion coefficient obtained by the mercury intruding porosimetry, the chamber formaldehyde concentration was predicted and compared with the experimental measurements. Results show that the predicted chamber VOC concentration using the measured parameters agree well with the experimental data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]