TY - CONF A1 - Brandt, S. T1 - Odour Emissions from Building Products Simplifying the Evaluation of Perceived Intensity N2 - One criterion to evaluate the odour of a sample is perceived intensity П which is evaluated with the aid of a comparative scale. The procedure is well accepted but also time consuming and extensive. The study should help simplify the testing procedure by asking the panel members to only indicate whether a sample is perceived as less to equally intense or of greater intensity in comparison to a given acetone concentration of 7 pi on the comparative scale. In Germany a value of 7 pi is required for products to be suitable for the indoor use. The results show that the simplified test is basically suitable. T2 - Indoor Air Conference 2022 “Healthy people in healthy indoor environment” CY - Kuopio, Finland DA - 12.06.2022 KW - Perceived Intensity KW - Emissions KW - Chamber test KW - Odour KW - VOC KW - Building product PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55623 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Brandt, S. A1 - Brozowski, F. A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Müller, B. T1 - Odour testing of building products: Examinations for an on-going development of the test standard ISO 16000-28 N2 - VOC-emissions and their odours from building products and furnishings present indoors should not have an impact on personal well-being or health. Odours can be measured by applying the standard ISO 16000-28. Indoor air determination of odour emissions from building products using test chambers. One of the described procedures is the assessment of perceived intensity using a comparative scale by a group of panellists. In this paper, the perceived intensity sampling procedure and its evaluation method are investigated and shown to need improvement. New technical developments in the methodology used to increase the reproducibility of measurement results are discussed. Since odour tests are used for labelling, they have a major influence on the assessment of construction products, similar to the procedure of the German Committee for Health Evaluation of Building Products (AgBB). In the original ISO standard, the evaluation is typically performed using a sampling container separated from the emission chamber. For a better sample presentation, an adapter was developed to connect the emission test chamber to the evaluation funnel and thus enable an odour assessment which is comparable to a direct measurement. The investigations show that losses of odourous substances can be greatly reduced, which is very desirable when seeking to obtain reliable results in odour measurement. Another experimental series was carried out to reduce the measurement effort in the evaluation of perceived intensity. Application of the developed greater than or less than/equal to. query could be helpful here. The results show that the query mostly leads to the same result as the evaluation of the perceived intensity using the method according to the standard but is much easier to perform. Overall, the results can contribute to improving the acceptance of the evaluation of perceived intensity using ISO 16000-28 and to determining odours from building materials increasingly more precisely. T2 - Healthy Buildings 2023 Europe CY - Aachen, Germany DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Building material KW - Odour KW - Perceived intensity KW - VOC KW - Emission test chamber PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-580070 SP - 345 EP - 352 PB - ISIAQ (International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate) CY - Herndon, VA, USA AN - OPUS4-58007 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Brandt, S. A1 - Brozowski, F. A1 - Plehn, W. A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Müller, B. T1 - Further Development of Odour Testing of Building Products – Sample Presentation and Evaluation of Perceived Intensity N2 - Indoor air quality is affected by the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) or the odour from building products. Odours can be measured by applying the standard ISO 16000-28:2020. In the study presented here proposals for further technical development of the ISO method are presented. The sampling procedure and evaluation method of the perceived intensity are investigated in particular because they have a major influence on reproducibility of measurement results. T2 - 17th International Conference HEALTHY BUILDINGS EUROPE 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 21.06.2021 KW - Geruchsmessung KW - Emissionen KW - Bauprodukte KW - VOC KW - Perceived Intensity PY - 2021 SN - 978-82-536-1728-2 VL - 2021 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - SINTEF Books CY - Oslo, Norwegen AN - OPUS4-54574 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brandt, S. A1 - Müller, B. A1 - Brozowski, F. A1 - Plehn, W. A1 - Horn, Wolfgang T1 - Weiterentwicklung des Geruchsmessverfahrens für Bauprodukte T1 - Further development of the odour measurement method for building products N2 - Bauprodukte und Einrichtungsgegenstände für Innenräume, wie Bodenbeläge und Wandpaneele, sollen das Wohlbefinden und die Gesundheit der Raumnutzerinnen und -nutzer nicht durch das Ausdünsten von Geruchsstoffen stören. Mit der Geruchsprüfung nach ISO 16000-28 „Innenraumluft - Bestimmung der Geruchsstoffemissionen aus Bauprodukten mit einer Emissionsprüfkammer“ wird der Produktgeruch zu einer messbaren Größe. So kann z. B. die empfundene Intensität, also die Stärke eines Geruchseindruckes, mit Hilfe eines Vergleichsmaßstabes von Probandinnen und Probanden ermittelt werden. Im hier vorgestellten Projekt werden Vorschläge zur Weiterentwicklung der Methode vorgestellt, um im Ergebnis die Reproduzierbarkeit der Messergebnisse weiter zu verbessern. Dabei werden vor allem das Probenpräsentationssystem und die Bewertungsmethodik für die empfundene Intensität bei der Bewertung von Bauprodukten gemäß AgBB-Schema betrachtet, da diese einen wesentlichen Einfluss haben. N2 - Emissions or odours occurring from building products and furnishings for interiors, like floor coverings or wall panels, should not have a negative impact on well-being or health. Odours can be measured applying the standard ISO 16000-28 „Indoor air - Determination of odour emissions from building products using test chambers” It describes among other procedures the assessment of perceived intensi-ty with comparative scale by a group of panellists. In the study presented here, proposals for further technical development of the methodology are discussed to increase the reproducibility of measurement results. The sampling procedure and evaluation method of perceived intensity are investigated in particular because they have a major influence at the assessment of construction products applying the procedure of the Committee for Health Evaluation of Building Products. KW - Geruchsmessung KW - Emissionen KW - Bauprodukte KW - VOC PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-527458 UR - http://www.gefahrstoffe.de SN - 0949-8036 SN - 1436-4891 VL - 81 IS - 3-4 SP - 151 EP - 155 PB - VDI Fachmedien CY - Düsseldorf AN - OPUS4-52745 LA - deu 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 - Even, Morgane A1 - Juritsch, Elevtheria A1 - Richter, Matthias T1 - Selection of gas standards, gas chromatography column and adsorbents for the measurement of very volatile organic compounds (C1–C6) in indoor air N2 - The ISO 16000-6 standard gives directions to adapt the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor and test chamber air to very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs). The same techniques with sorbent-based active sampling, thermal desorption and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) should be used. However, VVOCs require gaseous standards, an adapted GC column and a reliable sampling adsorbent. This work presents experimental results to tackle those three experimental gaps. A stable standard gas mixture containing 47 VVOCs, 13 VOCs and an internal standard was successfully generated. It was employed to study the suitability of seven types of chromatography columns. The use of PLOT (Porous Layer Open Tubular) columns such as PoraBOND Q is well suitable for VVOC analysis. The recoveries of the 60 analytes on a total of 16 adsorbents and their combinations were determined: A combination of the graphitized carbon black Carbograph 5TD 40/60 and the carbon molecular sieve CarbosieveTM SII showed great recoveries for all analytes. Carbon molecular sieves adsorb water which can impair the analysis. A dry purge of the multi-sorbent in the sampling direction led to a complete water removal and promising recoveries of the analytes. KW - VVOC KW - VOC KW - ISO 16000-6 KW - Gas chromatography KW - Thermal desorption KW - Air sampling PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2022.340561 SN - 0003-2670 VL - 1238 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-56366 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Grimmer, Christoph T1 - Development, application and measurement uncertainty of emission reference materials N2 - Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by furniture and building materials can cause health issues. For an improvement of indoor air quality low emitting materials should be used. Quality assurance and –control (QA/QC) measures require an emission reference material (ERM) with a predictable emission rate of VOCs. The idea is to use porous materials as ERM, which store the VOCs inside their pores and emit them constantly. T2 - Webinar Metrology for Indoor Air Quality Reference materials for QA/QC of the emission test chamber procedure CY - Online meeting DA - 11.04.2024 KW - Emission reference materials KW - Indoor air quality KW - Materials emissions test KW - VOC PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59963 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Grimmer, Christoph T1 - Preparation of novel emission reference materials: μ-capsules & impregnated porous materials N2 - Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by furniture and building materials can cause health issues. For an improvement of indoor air quality low emitting materials should be used. Quality assurance and –control (QA/QC) measures require an emission reference material (ERM) with a predictable emission rate of VOCs. The idea is to use porous materials as ERM, which store the VOCs inside their pores and emit them constantly. T2 - WORKSHOP: METROLOGY FOR INDOOR AIR QUALITY CY - Mol, Belgium DA - 18.10.2023 KW - Emission reference materials KW - Indoor air quality KW - Materials emissions test KW - VOC PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59961 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Horn, Wolfgang T1 - VOC-Sampling inside display cases with focus on BEMMA evaluation N2 - Museum display cases aim to protect art and cultural goods not only from theft and vandalism, but also from dirt and dust. An often-heard argument within a call for tender of new display cases is that there should be no emission inside of the display case. This is nearly impossible for new ones especially when they must also fulfill the requirement of an air change rate of less than 0.1 per day. For example, constructions or decorations in exhibition spaces, storage containers in depot rooms, and exhibition display cases release volatile substances that might lead to irreversible changes or, under certain circumstances, damage to the stored or displayed objects. In Germany beneath the well-established Oddy-test also the BEMMA procedure is used to evaluate the construction materials. For larger amounts of display cases control measurements of VOCs at the end of construction or buildup is quite common. However, what is necessary to measure the air inside of display cases. What are the circumstances when the display cases were closed before the test period? Is it possible to organize a clean environment for reliable measurements. How comparable are the resulting VOCs with results from BEMMA test and control measurement at the end. The BEMMA procedure should include a further VOC-test at 60 °C. What are the benefits of this enlargement. Mainly materials that have a high potential to store VOCs inside of the material in combination with a less permeable surface should be evaluated stricter than others. T2 - IAQ 2024 The International Conference on Indoor Air Quality in Heritage and Historic Environments CY - New York, USA DA - 18.11.2024 KW - Emission KW - Air quality KW - Display cases KW - VOC PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61967 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Horn, Wolfgang T1 - Analytische Untersuchungen für Vitrinenbaumaterialien am Beispiel des BEMMA-Schemas N2 - BEMMA ist die Kurzbezeichnung für ein Verfahren zur Bewertung von Emissionen aus Materialien für Museumsausstattungen. Die Bewertung der Materialien erfolgt nach StAA-QMH-4.2-033. Mit diesem Verfahren lassen sich flüchtige organische Verbindungen aus modernen Werkstoffen, die in mittelbarem Kontakt mit historischen Materialien des Kunst- und Kulturgutes stehen, untersuchen und bewerten. Die Vitrinenbaumaterialien, nicht die Vitrine, werden im Hinblick auf ihre Emissionen bewertet. Die Ergebnisse der Messungen werden auch vor dem Hintergrund von realen Vitrinenmessungen eingeordnet und die Herausforderungen bei der Probenahme dargestellt. T2 - Klima- und Schadstoffmanagement in der passiven Vitrine Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 13.10.2025 KW - Emission KW - BEMMA KW - Vitrinen KW - VOC PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64529 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Müller, Birgit T1 - Low-odour and low-emission indoor products - Nose vers. odour threshold values N2 - To achieve good air quality in buildings, it is necessary to remove, avoid or reduce cleaning loads through ventilation. To reduce the cleaning loads and their effect on the odour perception of the occupants, a sensory test in indoor spaces and on building products is necessary in addition to VOC emission measurements of the contaminants. ISO 16000-28 provides the basis for odour assessment of products using a human olfactory panel. Through many years of experience and testing of these methods, it can now be assumed that reproducible odour ratings are available for many products used indoors. An odour measurement is mandatory for the Blue Angel for carpets and is being tested for environmentally friendly resilient floor coverings. Based on the results of an earlier project and new results of the upcoming study, the ISO should be revised and completed. The project investigates the odour and VOC emissions of building products based on natural raw materials. The data generated is used to address several issues, which are briefly explained below. Floor coverings based on linoleum and rubber are included in the Blue Angel eco-label with an odour assessment. The aim of the project is to clarify whether other assessment methods in addition to intensity can provide better information. Positive hedonics have an influence on the intensity assessment. Typically, building products show high intensity with low hedonic values. Results for wood-based products often show high intensity and positive hedonics. Based on these examples, an appropriate odour assessment of wood-based products for the Blue Angel, supported by research results, should be possible. The concept of the odour guide value which is based on odour threshold values was renewed in 2023. This approach will now be compared with the standardised odour measurement (16000-28). This assessment is based on GC/MS measurements and uses odour thresholds analytically when panel-based odour assessment is not possible. For this procedure well defined odour thresholds are necessary T2 - AIRMON 2025 The 11th International Symposium on Modern Principles of Air Monitoring and Biomonitoring. CY - Loen, Norway DA - 15.06.2025 KW - Emission KW - Indoor air quality KW - Materials emissions test KW - VOC KW - Geruch PY - 2025 UR - https://stami.no/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Programhefte-Airmon-2025-Juni-10-YTH.pdf AN - OPUS4-63634 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Klein, Luise T1 - Miniaturization Options in VOC Emissions Assessments of Consumer Products: Comparison of Test Chambers and Dynamic Headspace Extraction Systems N2 - Different emission testing devices were compared to measure reliable initial indoor air concen-trations of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitting from consumer products. Compared to conventional medium- or large-scale test chambers, smaller devices including micro chambers and dynamic headspace extraction systems offer options for increased sample throughput, automation as well as reduced costs, which could facilitate their application in routine analysis of consumer product-related VOC emissions. T2 - Indoor Air 2024 CY - Honolulu, Hawaii, USA DA - 07.07.2024 KW - VOC KW - Emissions KW - Consumer product KW - Indoor air PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62098 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Müller, Birgit A1 - Brandt, Simone A1 - Badura, André A1 - Knigge, Anton A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Jann, Oliver T1 - Geruchs- und emissionsarme Produkte für eine gesunde Innenraumluft - Entwicklung von Anforderungen für den Blauen Engel bei innenraumrelevanten, großflächigen Produkten N2 - Gerüche in Innenräumen können belästigend wirken und das Wohlbefinden sowie die Gesundheit beeinflussen. Hauptziel der Untersuchungen ist es zu prüfen, ob die Vergabekriterien des Blauen Engels für die Produktgruppen „Elastische Bodenbeläge“ (DE-UZ 120) und „Emissionsarme Bodenbeläge, Paneele und Türen aus Holz und Holzwerkstoffen für Innenräume“ (DE-UZ 176) um geruchsrelevante Aspekte ergänzt werden können. Dies ist erstrebenswert, da Untersuchungen in Vorgängerprojekten gezeigt haben, dass die gemessenen Emissionen untersuchter Produkte zwar abnehmen, die Geruchsbelastung jedoch in etwa gleichgeblieben ist. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchungen zeigen, dass es möglich ist Anforderungen an den Geruch der Produkte zu stellen. Ferner wird untersucht und gezeigt, dass die bislang vorläufig festgelegte Schwelle einer empfundenen Intensität von 7 pi für die Zulassung von Bauprodukten gemäß Schema des Ausschusses zur gesundheitlichen Bewertung von Bauprodukten (AgBB) und Blauer Engel, als Beurteilungsmaßstab geeignet ist. Der im AgBB-Schema zugrunde gelegte Zusammenhang zwischen der geruchlichen Zumutbarkeit und der empfundenen Intensität kann mit den durchgeführten Messungen untermauert werden. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass bei Tests mit großen, ungeschulten Personengruppen etwa 70% der Probandinnen und Probanden Produkte mit einer empfundenen Intensität von bis zu 7 pi geruchlich als zumutbar empfinden. Zur Bewertung der empfundenen Intensität wird ein Vergleichsmaßstab verwendet. Die Einhaltung konstanter Bedingungen für die Temperatur und die relative Feuchte bei den Messungen ist von großer Bedeutung, da diese einen Einfluss auf die Messergebnisse haben. Daher werden Untersuchungen bei unterschiedlichen Temperaturen und relativer Luftfeuchte, die mit einer eigens dafür gebauten kleinen raumlufttechnischen Anlage eingestellt werden können, durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse belegen, dass die Einhaltung konstanter Prüfbedingungen wichtig ist und zeigen deren Einfluss auf die Geruchwahrnehmung. In einem neuen Luftqualitätslabor der HTW Berlin können Innenräume unter standardisierten Bedingungen geprüft werden. Es werden vergleichende Messungen mit Emissionsprüfkammertests durchgeführt, um zu prüfen, ob ähnliche Ergebnisse erreicht werden können. Das Ziel ist es, die Räume später für sensorische Messungen mit verschiedenen Ausstattungen zu nutzen. Das Vorhaben baut auf den Ergebnissen der Vorhaben UBA Texte 35/2011 „Sensorische Bewertung der Emissionen aus Bauprodukten – Integration in die Vergabegrundlagen für den Blauen Engel und das Bewertungsschema des Ausschusses zur gesundheitlichen Bewertung von Bauprodukten“ (Müller, 2011) und UBA Texte 92/2019 „Emissions- und geruchsarme Bauprodukte für energieeffiziente Gebäude – Entwicklung von Anforderungen und Konzepten für den Blauen Engel aus Klimaschutzsicht“ (Müller, 2019) auf. KW - Emission KW - Indoor air quality KW - VOC KW - Geruch KW - Bauprodukte PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.60810/openumwelt-7610 SN - 1862-4804 VL - 78/2025 SP - 1 EP - 214 PB - Umweltbundesamt CY - Dessau-Roßlau AN - OPUS4-63341 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Richter, Matthias 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 - Richter, Matthias T1 - Emission reference materials for indoor air measurements 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. VOC in combination may, under certain environmental and occupational conditions, result in reported sensory irritation and health complaints. Emission concentrations can become further elevated in new or refurbished buildings where the rate of air exchange with fresh ambient air may be limited due to improved energy saving aspects. 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 (building) materials proved 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 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 emission reference materials (ERM). For the emission test chamber procedure according to EN 16516, no artificial ERM is commercially available. The EU-funded EMPIR project MetrIAQ aims to fill this gap by developing new and improved ERMs. The goal is to obtain a material with a reproducible and temporally constant compound release (less than 10 % variability over 14 days). Two approaches were tested: the impregnation of porous materials with VOC, and the encapsulation of VOC in polymer microcapsules. Impregnation is performed with help of an autoclave and supercritical CO2. The encapsulation is done by interfacial polymerisation on VOC droplets. For both approaches, synthesis and/or material parameters were varied to obtain an optimal ERM. Findings about the optimisation of ERM generation, as well as performance of the best emission reference materials, will be presented. T2 - GAS Analysis 2024 CY - Paris, France DA - 30.01.2024 KW - Emission reference materials KW - Materials emissions test KW - VOC KW - Indoor air quality PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59506 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schuehle, Florian T1 - Quality assured uptake rates for passive sampling of indoor air VOCs N2 - Generation of experimental uptake rates (UR) for > 70 VOCs (7d /100 μg m-3) Application in German Environmental Survey – VOC exposure assessment Assurance of transparency concerning UR generation and uncertainty creates basis for decision making and comparability of measurement results. Exemplarily the uncertainty u(UR) of toluene UR was modelled and determined statistically with own laboratory data (relative standard deviation of actively sampled test gas atmosphere – RSDa and n = 5 exposed passive samplers – RSDp) in line with EN 838 as well as from variation of literature UR – RSD UR,lit. T2 - Airmon 2022, 10th International Symposium on modern principles of air monitoring and biomonitoring CY - Bristol, UK DA - 06.11.2022 KW - IAQ KW - VOC KW - Diffusive sampling KW - Uptake rate PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56583 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schühle, Florian T1 - Bereitstellung qualitätsgesicherter VOC-Aufnahmeraten für axiale Passivsammler N2 - Quality assured uptake rates for passive sampling of indoor air VOCs Passive sampling of VOCs with Tenax® TA and thermal desorption GC-MS analysis is a simple, cost efficient and representative method to determine VOCs concentrations in indoor air. In theory, the uptake into the passive sampler is only dependent on the diffusion coefficient of the analyte in air and the geometry of the sampler (ideal adsorption). For characterization, the uptake rate (UR) is used, defined as the ratio of the uptaken mass and the product of ambient concentration and exposure time. Various reported effective uptake rates (UR,eff) differ considerably from ideal values (UR,id). Literature values in national and international standards, are essentially sorted by the applicable exposure time, while detailed information about the corresponding concentration range is lacking. Moreover the number of itemized substances is limited. The aim of this study was to review and expand this set of uptake rates by determination of own quality assured laboratory values.The determined uptake rates are considered accurate in terms of RSD and comparability to literature values and can be recommended for exposure times of seven days at 50 100 µg/m³ (approximately 100 300 ppm min). Seven day uptake rates in ISO16017 2 and ASTM D6196 are not generally suited for this purpose, as has been exemplarily shown for benzene. N2 - Die passive Probenahme von VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) mit Tenax® TA und Thermodesorption GC/MS Analytik ist eine einfache, kosteneffiziente und repräsentative Methode zur Bestimmung der VOC-Konzentrationen in der Innenraumluft. In der Theorie ist die Stoffaufnahme in den Passivsammler nur abhängig vom Diffusionskoeffizienten der Substanz in Luft und der Geometrie des Sammlers (ideale Adsorption). Um sie zu charakterisieren, wird die Aufnahmerate (UR), definiert als Quotient der Massenaufnahme und dem Produkt aus Konzentration und Expositionszeit, verwendet. Viele effektive Aufnahmeraten (UR,eff) unterscheiden sich beträchtlich von idealen (theoretischen) Werten (UR,id). Literaturwerte sind in nationalen und internationalen Normen lediglich für bestimmte Expositionszeiten vorgegeben, während detaillierte Informationen über den zugehörigen Konzentrationsbereich fehlen. Außerdem ist die Anzahl der insgesamt in der Literatur beschriebenen Substanzen begrenzt. Das Ziel der vorgestellten Studie ist es diesen Fundus an Aufnahmeraten zu begutachten und zu prüfen und ihn durch die Bestimmung eigener qualitätsgesicherter Laborwerte zu ergänzen. Die bestimmten Aufnahmeraten werden als akkurat bezüglich ihrer relativen Standardabweichung und Vergleichbarkeit zu Literaturwerten betrachtet und können für Expositionszeiten von 7 Tagen bei Konzentrationen von 50 100 µg/m³ (ca. 100 300 ppm min) empfohlen werden. Die Sieben Tage Aufnahmeraten aus ISO16017 2 und ASTM D6196 sind nicht generell für diesen Zweck geeignet, wie exemplarisch für Benzol gezeigt wurde. T2 - Kongress 29. WaBoLu-Innenraumtage CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 24.05.2022 KW - IAQ KW - VOC KW - Passive sampling KW - Uptake rate PY - 2022 SN - 978-3-949241-04-8 AN - OPUS4-55209 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steger, S. A1 - Horn, Wolfgang A1 - Eggert, G. A1 - Krekel, C. T1 - Are cellulose ethers safe for the conservation of artwork? New insights in their VOC activity by means of Oddy testing N2 - Cellulose ethers, like methyl cellulose (MC) or hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), are widely used in conservation. They also occur as additives and rheology modifiers in various products like dispersions or gels. Do such products release harmful volatile organic compounds (VOC) during their accelerated aging? A mass testing series utilizing the Oddy test of 60 commercial cellulose ethers ranks the products in safe for permanent use (P, no corrosion), only for temporary use (T, slight corrosion), and unsuitable at all (F, heavy corrosion). Results show that 55% of the products passed the test whereas 33% are for temporary use as slight corrosion occurred on at least one metal coupon and only 11% failed the Oddy test. Raman measurements of the corrosion products identified oxides like massicot, litharge, cuprite, and tenorite among carbonates (hydrocerussite, plumbonacrite), and acetates like basic lead acetate, lead acetate trihydrate as well as lead formate as main phases. For example, commercial, industrial Klucel® G (HPC) scored a T rating through slight corrosion on the lead coupon. Basic lead acetate among other phases indicates the presence of acetic acid. Additional measurements of the sample with thermal desorption GC–MS utilizing the BEMMA scheme confirm the high acetic acid outgassing and reveal the presence of a small amount of formaldehyde. KW - Cellulose ether KW - Corrosion KW - Oddy test KW - VOC KW - BEMMA PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-547591 DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00688-4 SN - 2050-7445 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Springer Open AN - OPUS4-54759 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Strzelczyk, Rebecca T1 - Zeolites loaded with VOCs as reference for material emissions testing N2 - Nowadays, people spend most of their time indoors. Thus, a good indoor air quality is important. Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from furniture and building materials can cause health complaints1. Quantitative VOC-emission testing is carried out under standardized conditions in emission test chambers. In the presented project an emission reference material (ERM) is developed that emits a defined mixture of VOCs which is required for quality assurance and -control (QA/QC) measures. Porous materials (e.g zeolites, activated carbons, MOFs or aerogels) are used as reservoir materials and impregnated with VOC. The porous materials are selected, among others, by their pore size, pore size distribution, polarity and availability. Due to their regular pore structure zeolites are tested at first. For a prediction of the emission profile, the ERM is supposed to exhibit a constant emission rate over time. The aim is a stability of ≤ 10 % change in the emission rate over a minimum of 14 days. Method For impregnation, the material is placed into an autoclave inside a rotatable basket. The VOC is added and the autoclave is closed. Afterwards, CO2 is inserted. The closed system is then heated to the supercritical point of CO2 (31 °C, 73.75 bar). In this state, the CO2 acts as solvent for the VOC. By rotating the basket, the distribution of the VOC is ensured. After a few minutes, the pressure is decreased slowly and the CO2 is released. For the determination of the emission profile, the impregnated sample is placed into an emission test chamber. These chambers can be operated either with dry or humid air (50 ± 5 % rel. humidity). Every second to third day, air samples are taken and analyzed by gas chromatography. For an ideal impregnation, several different pressures and temperatures as well as impregnation times are tested. Results Two zeolite materials tested in dry air conditions reach emission profiles with a decrease of less than 10 % over 14 days (heptane and toluene, respectively). Further it was discovered that smaller pellets of the same zeolite show better results than bigger particles. When the pore size of a zeolite is too small, e.g. 0.3 nm, the VOC cannot be absorbed sufficiently. The main disadvantage of zeolites is their hygroscopicity because it has a large impact on the release of VOC when they are used in emission test chambers under standardized test conditions (23 °C, 50 % rel. humidity). Activated carbons have emission profiles with a larger change over 14 days. However, the high hydrophobicity allows measurements in humid air conditions which was not possible with the before mentioned hygroscopic zeolites. It is possible to impregnate powdered materials as well, and thus powdered non-hygroscopic (n.h.) zeolites were impregnated. Their emission profiles are comparable to those of the activated carbons. The use of methylated hygroscopic zeolites with a decrease in hygroscopicity did not yield successful emission measurements. The change over 14 days is calculated only for the stable phase (~250–300 h). The desired stability of ≤ 10 % change of the emission rate over 14 days could already be reached under dry testing conditions. Further investigations under humid conditions show that zeolites with high Si/Al-ratios are non-hygroscopic and comparable to activated carbons (20–30 % change). The next step is to reduce the change in the emission rate of these materials to the aimed ≤ 10 % over 14 days. T2 - Deutsche Zeolithtagung CY - Jena, Germany DA - 28.02.2024 KW - VOC KW - Emission KW - Quality assurance KW - Reference material KW - Zeolite PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59843 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Strzelczyk, Rebecca T1 - Constant emitting reference material for emissions test procedures N2 - Since nowadays people spend most of their time indoors, a healthy environment is essential. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from furniture and building materials are reported to cause health complaints. Therefore, the usage of low emitting materials will improve the indoor air quality. Quantitative VOC emission testing is usually conducted in emission test chambers under specified controlled conditions as described in DIN 16000-9 and DIN EN 16516. For reasons of quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) and for a better comparability of test results from different laboratories, suitable emission reference materials (ERM) are needed. Here, it is important to have a homogenous material with known emission rates over a specific time. Different approaches can be found in literature, inter alia polymer films loaded with the target compound to be released again, or a lacquer material to which a VOC mixture is added. After curing of the lacquer, the material can be loaded into a test chamber. Drawback of those approaches are their relatively fast decreasing emission profiles. For QC/QA purposes according to the test standards, VOC sources with constant emission profiles are desirable. The EU-funded research project MetrIAQ “Metrology for the determination of emissions of dangerous substances from building materials into indoor air” is working on a multi-component ERM with an envisaged instability of ≤ 10 % in the emission rate over at least 14 days. Within a doctoral thesis porous materials are impregnated with VOCs. Supercritical CO2 is used as solvent. Thus, the impregnated material does not contain any solvent that may show a measurable amount of emission in the emission test chamber. Furthermore, CO2 has the benefits to have a good availability and low costs. For the selection of porous materials several properties like the pore size, the surface, and the interaction with the components in the atmosphere need to be considered. The impregnation method is optimised while the different porous materials are tested. For the selection of porous materials the pores need to be large enough for the VOC molecules, further influence of the pore size is tested. T2 - Healthy Buildings CY - Aachen, Germany DA - 11.06.2023 KW - VOC KW - Emission KW - Quality assurance KW - Reference material PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59842 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -