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Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from consumer products contribute to human inhalation exposure and may cause adverse health effects. Existing methods to determine long-term VOC emissions from e.g. building products need to be verified for their suitability to reliably detect initial VOC emissions from consumer products within the first hours and days of use, which would facilitate realistic inhalation exposure assessments. To investigate this issue, VOCs emitted from a test sample were determined in a large-scale emission test chamber and in two micro-chambers of different volumes, and the results were compared.
Recent research into emissions of (semi-)volatile organic compounds [(S)VOC] from solid materials has focused on the development of suitable reference materials for quality assurance/quality control of emission test chamber measurements, which fulfill requirements such as homogenous and reproducible (S)VOC release. The approach of this study was to find a method for preparation of a material with predictable (S)VOC emission rates. AVOC (styrene) and an SVOC (2,6-diisopropylnaphthalene, DIPN), loaded into either vacuum grease or a 1:1 mixture of paraffin/squalane, have been tested. For the prediction of the emission rates, a model using the finite element method (FEM) was created to simulate the (S)VOC emission profiles. Theoretical and experimental results obtained in a Micro-Chamber/Thermal Extractor (μ-CTE™) and in 24 L emission test chamber measurements were in good agreement. Further properties were investigated concerning the material applicability, such as shelf life and inter-laboratory comparability. The maximum relative standard deviation in the inter-laboratory study was found to be 20%.
Development of a multi-VOC reference material for quality assurance in materials emission testing
(2015)
Emission test chamber measurement is necessary to proof building materials as sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The results of such measurements are used to evaluate materials and label them according to their potential to emit harmful substances, polluting indoor air. If only labelled materials were installed indoors, this would improve indoor air quality and prevent negative impacts on human health. Because of the complex testing procedure, reference materials for the quality assurance are mandatory. Currently, there is a lack of such materials because most building products show a broad variation of emissions even within one batch. A previous study indicates lacquers, mixed with volatile organic pollutants, as reproducible emission source for a wide range of substances. In the present study, the curing of the lacquer-VOC mixture inside micro-chambers was optimised. Therefore, the humidity and the chamber flow were varied. Typical indoor air pollutants with a wide range of volatilities, for example, styrene, n-hexadecane, dimethyl and dibutyl phthalate were selected. It turned out that, under optimised curing parameters inside the micro-chamber, their emission can be reproduced with variations of less than 10 %. With this, a next important step towards a reference material for emission testing was achieved.
Since semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), including biocides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), occur indoors as well as outdoors, air sampling adsorbents and measuring methods for all these compounds are indispensable. This paper presents the initial steps in the development of such a method, the aim of which is the analysis of selected compounds in the above-mentioned classes using low air sampling volumes and air-exchange rates close to zero, as is common in museum showcases. For measurements under easily controlled conditions, a micro-chamber system was used at different temperatures. A surface modified styrene divinylbenzene (SDVB) polymer was selected as the air sampling adsorbent for the elution experiments. After successfully performing pretests using the micro-chamber system with target compound solutions, the emissions of these compounds from self-soaked wood samples and con-taminated wood samples were investigated for method development.
Investigation of an active air sampling strategy for biocides, PCBs and PAHs at low air change rates
(2013)
The aim of this study was to develop a low volume air sampling strategy for biocides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) at low air change rates. Firstly a method of measurement for the GC-MS-MS system had to be created before an adsorbent for the air sampling of these compound classes was selected in elution experiments with target compound solutions. The key requirements for the adsorbent were that it had to engender a faster and easier work-up process while reducing solvent consumption, as it is not the case for the frequently used polyurethane foam (PUF) and XAD adsorbents. Using the selected adsorbent, air sampling quality was tested and compared with the one of PUF in experiments performed in a Micro-Chamber/Thermal Extractor™ (μ- CTE™, Markes International) with target compound solutions. To achieve air sampling under the aforementioned conditions the influences of temperature, air circulation, air change rate and relative humidity on the emission behavior of the selected biocides, PCBs and PAHs were investigated. This investigation was carried out with self soaked wood samples in low volume air sampling experiments in a μ-CTE, 23 l and 24 l emission test chambers and 27 l showcases. Furthermore, an active air sampling strategy for biocides, PCBs and PAHs at low air change rates was successfully tested in a 24 l emission test chamber. Sampling volumes of 24-50 l were tested with the developed low volume air sampling strategy with limits of quantification between 1-27 μg m-3. A styrene divinylbenzene polymer was selected as a suitable adsorbent and sampling of at least 100 ng μl-1 of biocides, PCBs and PAHs without breakthroughs were possible with 200 mg of this polymer. This corresponds to a concentration range of 3000-6250 μg m-3 for these low sampling volumes. The low volume air sampling method developed in this study was successfully applied in projects investigating real wood samples in the μ-CTE as well as in low volume indoor air samples. In these experiments the applicability of the method was partly compared with a method using a different adsorbent.