TY - JOUR A1 - Hofmann, Michael A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Jann, Oliver T1 - Use of commercial radon monitors for low level radon measurements in dynamically operated VOC emission test chambers N2 - Compared to the intended EU reference level of 300 Bq m−3 for indoor radon concentrations, the contribution of building materials appears to be low. Considering the recommended limit of 100 Bq m−3 by WHO, their contribution is supposed to be relevant, especially at low air exchange rates. This study as part of a two-part research project investigated the suitability of direct low level 222Rn measurement under simulated indoor conditions with commercial radon monitors and dynamically operated emission test chambers. Active measuring devices based on ionisation or scintillation chambers with 1-σ uncertainties below 8.6% at 20 Bq m−3 were found to be best suitable for a practical test procedure for the determination of radon exhalation rates of building materials. For the measurement of such low concentrations, the knowledge of the accurate device background level is essential. KW - Radon monitors KW - Radon exhalation KW - Building materials KW - Measurement method PY - 2017 DO - https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncx137 SN - 1742-3406 SN - 0144-8420 VL - 177 IS - 1-2 SP - 16 EP - 20 PB - Oxford Academic AN - OPUS4-41952 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Klinge, A. A1 - Roswag-Klinge, E. A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Fontana, P. A1 - Hoppe, Johannes A1 - Payet, J. ED - Venkatarama Reddy, B. V. ED - Mani, M. ED - Walker, P. T1 - The Relevance of Earthen Plasters for Eco Innovative, Cost-Efficient and Healthy Construction—Results from the EU-Funded Research Project [H]house N2 - The European building sector is moving towards more complex and high-tech building approaches. While focusing on energy efficiency, aspects e.g. occupant health, sustainability and life cycle costing are often neglected. This study highlights the potential of earthen plasters in combination with natural ventilation for low-tech solutions. The EU funded project [H]house established the outstanding performance of earthen materials in light of hygrothermal and air purifying properties, which were further supported by experimental data from monitoring of naturally ventilated pilot buildings in Berlin. Additionally, [H]house demonstrated through LCC an increased cost efficiency of earth based low-tech solutions in comparison to conventional constructions relying on mechanical ventilation. KW - Climate responsive materials KW - Low-tech approach KW - IEQ KW - natural ventilation KW - LCC PY - 2019 SN - 978-981-13-5882-1 SN - 978-981-13-5883-8 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5883-8_32 SN - 2363-7633 SN - 2363-7641 SP - 371 EP - 382 PB - Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. CY - Singapur AN - OPUS4-47792 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Beck, Oliver A1 - Wilke, Olaf A1 - Pyza, Lars A1 - Seeger, Stefan T1 - Test procedure for the evaluation of adsorptive building materials T2 - Healthy Buildings 2012 - 10th International conference CY - Brisbane, Australia DA - 2012-07-08 KW - Air cleaning KW - Sorptive construction materials KW - Test procedure KW - Volatile organic compound KW - Test gas generation KW - Healthy homes and buildings KW - Material and construction KW - Product safety KW - Risk assessment PY - 2012 SN - 978-1-921897-40-5 SP - 43 EP - 44 (Session 4B) AN - OPUS4-27558 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Beck, O. A1 - Wilke, Olaf A1 - Pyza, Lars A1 - Seeger, Stefan T1 - Test procedure for the evaluation of adsorptive buildings materials T2 - Healthy Buildings 2012 - 10th International Conference CY - Brisbane, Australia DA - 2012-07-08 PY - 2012 AN - OPUS4-27449 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Wilke, Olaf A1 - Richter, Matthias T1 - Round robin tests of odour and VOC emissions from building products – What have we learned so far? N2 - Emission testing of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and odour from materials and products is commonly based on emission test chamber measurements. These measurements are often the basis of mandatory or voluntary labelling procedures. To ensure the comparability of results from different testing laboratories their performance must be verified. For this purpose, round robin tests (RRTs) are conducted. Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und - prüfung (BAM) offers such a RRT every two years using well characterised test materials with defined VOC emissions. In addition to the VOC quantification, the evaluation of odour is also implemented in the round robin tests. At the beginning, only perceived intensity (PI) was tested but over the years also the acceptance evaluation was considered. In principle, the results of PI and acceptance evaluation are comparable. The advantage of PI is the lower number of panel members necessary for one evaluation. T2 - Healthy Buildings 2023 Europe CY - Aachen, Germany DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Perceived intensity KW - VOC-emission KW - Poficiency test KW - Chamber test KW - Odour PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-580001 SP - 434 EP - 436 PB - ISIAQ (International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate) CY - Herndon, VA, USA AN - OPUS4-58000 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Grimmer, Christoph A1 - de Krom, I. A1 - Maes, F. A1 - Lecuna, M. A1 - Musyanovych, A. A1 - Strzelczyk, Rebecca Skadi A1 - Horn, Wolfgang T1 - Metrological sound reference products for quality assurance and quality control measures in material emissions testing N2 - In industrialised countries more than 80% of the time is spent indoors. Products, such as building materials and furniture, emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are therefore ubiquitous in indoor air. Different VOC combinations may, under certain environmental and occupational conditions, result in reported sensory irritation and health complaints. A healthy indoor environment can be achieved by controlling the sources and by eliminating or limiting the release of harmful substances into the air. One way is to use materials proven to be low emitting. Meanwhile, a worldwide network of professional commercial and non-commercial laboratories performing emission tests for the evaluation of products for interior use has been established. Therefore, comparability and metrological traceability of test results must be ensured. A laboratory’s proficiency can be proven by internal and external validation measures that both include the application of suitable reference materials. The emission test chamber procedure according to EN 16516 comprises several steps from sample preparation to sampling of test chamber air and chromatographic analysis. Quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) must therefore be ensured. Currently, there is a lack of suitable reference products containing components relevant for the health-related evaluation of building products. The EU-funded EMPIR project 20NRM04 MetrIAQ (Metrology for the determination of emissions of dangerous substances from building materials into indoor air) aims to develop 1) gaseous primary reference materials (gPRM), which are used for the certification of gaseous (certified) reference materials (gCRM) and 2) emission reference materials (ERM). Most commercial gas standards of indoor-relevant compounds are not certified due to the lack of primary reference materials to which the project aims to contribute. The gPRM under development is a gas-phase standard containing trace levels of VOCs in nitrogen or air from the check standard according to EN 16516 (n-hexane, methyl isobutyl ketone, toluene, butyl acetate, cyclohexanone, o-xylene, phenol, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene) with a target uncertainty of 5 %. The gPRM can be sampled into sorbent tubes to obtain transfer standards in the form of gCRM. The well characterised ERM represents a sample of a test specimen, e.g. building material, that is loaded into the emission test chamber for a period of several days and is used to evaluate the whole emission test chamber procedure. It shall have a reproducible and temporally constant compound release of less than 10 % variability over 14 days. Different approaches for retarded VOC release, such as the encapsulation of pure compounds and the impregnation of porous materials, are being tested to reach this aim. Furthermore, the design of the ERM is accompanied by the development of a numerical model for the prediction of the emissions for each of the target VOCs. The current progress of the work on both materials will be presented. T2 - CIM 2023 - 21st International Metrology Congress CY - Lyon, France DA - 07.03.2023 KW - Indoor air quality KW - VOC KW - Materials emissions testing KW - Emission reference material KW - Quality assurance/quality control PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57142 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Musyanovych, A. A1 - Grimmer, Christoph A1 - Sadak, A. E. A1 - Heßling, L. A1 - Bilsel, M. A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Richter, Matthias T1 - Polymeric Capsules with VOCs for Controlled Emission N2 - Micro-(nano-)encapsulation technology involves building of a barrier between the core and the environment and offers a number of benefits to preserve the functional and physicochemical properties of core material. Tremendous progress has been made in synthesizing well-defined capsules to achieve desired properties such as particle size, chemical composition, and controlled release of the payload. Encapsulation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that could evaporate with a defined rate is of immense interest for application in emission reference materials (ERM). These are urgently needed for quality assurance and quality control purposes (QA/QC) required by test standards for the determination of chemical emissions of construction and other materials for interior use. As such ERMs are hardly available on the market, the EU-funded EMPIR project MetrIAQ [1] was started to fill this gap by developing a material with temporally constant emission of VOCs typically found in indoor air. Different capsules in a size range between 5 and 50 μm were synthesized through an interfacial polyaddition/polycondensation reaction in direct (water-in-oil) system. As VOC several types of hydrophobic liquid materials were used. After synthesis, the morphology and physicochemical properties of capsules were characterized by electron microscopy, FTIR and DSC/TGA. An encapsulation efficiency up to 90% could be reached. The emission kinetic of volatile agents was studied in emission test chambers at 23 °C and 50% RH for 14 days. First results indicate that variation of the cross-linking grade of the shell material is one important parameter to adjust the desired emission rate. The overall aim is to achieve a consistent emission profile that decreases by less than 10 % over a target period of at least 14 days. T2 - 36th European Colloid & Interface Society Conference CY - Chania, Crete, Greece DA - 04.09.2022 KW - Capsules KW - Volatile organic compound KW - Polymer KW - Material emissions KW - Reference materials PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56039 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Even, Morgane A1 - Juritsch, Elevtheria A1 - Richter, Matthias T1 - Measurement of very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs) in indoor air by sorbent-based active sampling: Identifying the gaps towards standardisation N2 - The ISO 16000-6 standard describes a method for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor and test chamber air by sorbent-based active sampling, thermal desorption and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). It also gives directions to adapt this methodology to very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs). Indeed, toxicologically based guideline values are being implemented for these compounds and it becomes necessary to measure them. But a comprehensive and robust measurement method is lacking. This work highlights the points that still need to be explored towards the standardisation of a suitable procedure: investigations on sorbent combinations, the suitability of chromatography columns and the use of gaseous standards are required. The biggest challenge remains in the fact that strong sorbents adsorb water together with VVOCs. Water may impair the analysis and the optimal approach to eliminate it is still to be found and integrated into the sampling strategy. KW - Solvents KW - Air analysis KW - VOC KW - Thermal desorption KW - Gas chromatography KW - ISO 16000-6 PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-523919 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2021.116265 VL - 140 SP - 116265 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-52391 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wilke, Olaf A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Jann, Oliver T1 - Volatile organic compounds from building products - Results from six round robin tests with emission test chambers conducted between 2008 and 2018 N2 - Emission testing of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from materials and products is commonly based on emission test chamber measurements. To ensure the comparability of results from different testing laboratories, their measurement performance must be verified. For this purpose, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) organizes an international proficiency test (round robin test, RRT) every two years using well-characterized test materials (one sealant, one furniture board, and four times a lacquer) with defined VOC emissions. The materials fulfilled the requirements of homogeneity, reproducibility, and stability. Altogether, 36 VOCs were included of which 33 gave test chamber air concentrations between 13 and 83 µg/m3. This is the typical concentration range to be expected and to be quantified when performing chamber tests. Three compounds had higher concentrations between 326 and 1105 µg/m3. In this paper, the relative standard deviations (RSD) of BAM round robin tests since 2008 are compared and the improvement of the comparability of the emission chamber testing is shown by the decrease of the mean RSD down to 28 % in 2018. In contrast, the first large European interlaboratory comparison in 1999 showed a mean RSD of 51 %. KW - Construction product KW - Emission test chamber KW - Interlaboratory comparison KW - Proficiency testing KW - Rround robin test KW - VOC emission PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-526139 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12848 VL - 31 IS - 6 SP - 2049 EP - 2057 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-52613 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - de Krom, I. A1 - Heikens, D. A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Wilke, Olaf A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Baldan, A. T1 - Metrological generation of SI-traceable gas-phase standards and reference materials for (semi-) volatile organic compounds N2 - EN 16516 sets specifications for the determination of emissions into indoor air from construction products. Reliable, accurate and International System of Unit (SI)-traceable measurement results of the emissions are the key to consumer protection. Such measurement results can be obtained by using metrologically traceable reference materials. Gas-phase standards of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air can be prepared by a variety of dynamic methods according to the ISO 6145 series. However, these methods are not always applicable for semi-VOCs (SVOCs) due to their high boiling point and low vapour pressure. Therefore, a novel dynamic gas mixture generation system has been developed. With this system gas-phase standards with trace level VOCs and SVOCs in air can be prepared between 10 nmol mol−1 and 1000 nmol mol−1. The VOCs and SVOCs in this study have normal boiling points ranging from 146 °C to 343 °C. Metrologically traceable reference materials of the gas-phase standard were obtained by sampling of the VOC gas-phase standard into Tenax TA® sorbent material in SilcoNert® coated stainless steel tubes. Accurately known masses between 10 ng and 1000 ng per VOC were sampled. These reference materials were used to validate the dynamic system. Furthermore, the storage and stability periods of the VOCs in the reference materials were determined as these are crucial characteristics to obtain accurate and SI-traceable reference materials. In a round robin test (RRT), the reference materials were used with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of providing SI-traceable standard reference values for SVOCs for interlaboratory comparison purposes. Based on the results from the validation, the storage and stability studies and the RRT, gas-phase standards and reference materials of VOCs and SVOCs with relative expanded uncertainties between 5% and 12% (k = 2) have been developed. These reference standards can be used as calibrants, reference materials or quality control materials for the analysis of VOC emissions. KW - SVOC KW - Dynamic calibration gas mixtures KW - Reference materials KW - Indoor air KW - Thermal desorption PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-565978 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/aca704 VL - 34 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - IOP Publishing AN - OPUS4-56597 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -