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- Emission test chamber (6)
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Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) are ubiquitous in the indoor air since they are emitted from materials used indoors. Investigations of these materials are mostly carried out in emission test chambers under controlled climatic conditions. Reference materials are an important tool for quality assurance/Quality control of emission test chamber measurements but so far they are not commercially available. In this study, a new approach was tested to develop an appropriate reference material with homogenous and reproducible emission of the VOC with well measurable air concentrations in emission test Chambers larger than 20 L at air change rates of 0.5 - 1 /h.
Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) was selected as Matrix material which was impregnated with 2,2,4- trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol monoisobutyrate (texanol) as test VOC using compressed carbon dioxide. An optimization of the impregnation parameters such as temperature, pressure, time, VOC injection volume and TPU sample size was performed until the targeted area specific Emission rate (SERa) value was reached. Further aspects like process control, storage effects and correlation of the sample size to the emission rate were investigated. It was found that the SERa immediately after sample preparation were not reproducible between the batches but became unified 10 days after loading into the test chamber indicating the necessity of aging before use. SERa between 13,000 and 18,000 mg m-2 h-1 were obtained, and the impregnated materials could be well stored in aluminum-coated polyethylene foil for at least seven weeks without significant losses. Furthermore, the impregnation of styrene and the SVOC 2,6-diisopropylnaphthalene was tested.
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%.
Emission testing of products is currently a rapidly increasing field of measurement activity. Labelling procedures for construction products are based on such emission test chamber measurements and hence measurement performance should be verified. A suited procedure for this purpose is the testing of one unique homogenous material in different laboratories within a Round Robin Test (RRT). Therefore, it is useful to have a reference material which can be used within inter-laboratory studies or as part of the quality management system to ensure comparable results. Several approaches on the development of reproducibly emitting materials have been published. These have in common only to emit a single VOC – toluene. Two further research studies carried out by BAM aimed to develop reference material for emissions testing containing one or more VOC in a single material. The first approach was a doped lacquer with Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC/SVOC) and the second was Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) or a Squalane/Paraffin mixture. Results received with the lacquer based material were presented in more detail.
Earth, timber, fibre boards and insulation materials based on wooden and other natural fibres offer a variety of properties beneficial for eco innovative constructions that are able to improve the energy and resource efficiency of buildings.
Due to their porosity, natural building materials are vapour active and are able to buffer moisture. In combination with highly insulated and airtight but vapour permeable building envelopes, modern earth-timber constructions provide stable indoor humidity levels and can therefore be naturally ventilated while achieving highest energy efficiency standards. Experimental evidence suggests that monitored pilot buildings in Berlin do show healthy indoor air humidity levels (around 50%) in wintertime, while mechanically ventilated buildings demonstrate significantly lower values (around 25%), which have to be considered as uncomfortable and unhealthy.
The application of building materials being poor in chemical emissions, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOC) and radon, improves the indoor air quality further, so that intermittent ventilation twice a day will be sufficient to provide healthy indoor air quality. The air quality in critical rooms (e.g. small bedrooms), demonstrating a smaller air volume, should be monitored if appropriate ratios of room size to occupancy level cannot be realised.
Through night time ventilation in summer, vapour active earth-timber constructions provide evaporative cooling (humidity adsorption at night time and desorption during the day). As a result, indoor temperatures of earth-timber buildings range around 8 °C below the outside temperature peak, when an appropriate glazing ratio is reflected. The EU funded research project H-house is investigating various construction materials regarding water vapour adsorption as well as emission and absorption of harmful substances. Based on this investigation new wall constructions are designed to provide a healthier indoor environment.
Emissions of building materials might have negative impact on human health and well-being. In the EU-funded research project H-House more than 30 natural materials (earthen dry boards and plasters, bio-based insulation materials made of wood, flax, reed, straw, etc.) used for renovation and refurbishment were tested regarding emissions of VOC, formaldehyde and radon. Different to ordinary emission tests on single materials this study focuses on the emissions from complete wall assemblies. Therefore, specially designed test chambers were used allowing the compounds to release only from the surface of the material facing indoors. The testing parameters were chosen in order to simulate model room conditions. The emission results were finally evaluated using the AgBB evaluation scheme, a procedure currently applied for the approval of flooring materials in Germany.
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.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found indoors have the potential to affect human health. Typical sources include building materials, furnishings, cleaning agents, etc. To address this risk, chemical emission testing is used to assess the potential of different materials to pollute indoor air. One objective of the European Joint Research Project 'MACPoll' (Metrology for Chemical Pollutants in Air) aims at developing and testing a reference material for the quality control of the emission testing procedure. Furthermore, it would enable comparison of measurement results between test laboratories. The heterogeneity of the majority of materials makes it difficult to find a suitable reference sample.
In the present study, styrene, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, N-methyl-α-pyrrolidone, lindane, n-hexadecane, 1,2-dimethyl- and 1,2-di-n-butyl-phthalate were added to 12 commercially available lacquers (6 alkyd and 6 acrylic polymer based lacquers) serving as carrier substrate. After homogenization, the mixtures were loaded into a Markes Micro-Chamber/Thermal Extractor (µ-CTE) for curing and investigation of the emission behavior for each compound. For almost all of the investigated chemicals, the preferred glossy acrylic lacquer showed emissions that were reproducible with a variation of less than 20% RSD. Such lacquer systems have therefore been shown to be good candidates for use as reference materials in inter-laboratory studies.
The development of a gas mixing system (GMS) that enables dynamic and retraceable production of stable long-term VOC gas mixtures within the ppb range is discussed. In this system pure liquid substances are kept separately at a constant temperature, evaporated according to their vapour pressure and removed by a small inert gas flow. A modular set-up allows flexible handling. All vapours generated are finally united in a mixing chamber. Any concentration level of the gas mixture can be produced by a suitable combination of evaporation temperature, carrier and dilution gas flows. Test results from continuous operation over six weeks are presented. The equipment was tested on seven volatile organic compounds (VOC) of different vapour pressure ranges. It was possible to establish stable operation for the equipment during the entire period and reproducible gas concentrations which were traceable to the mass as an SI unit, thus the system is suitable for long-term tests.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Im Beitrag wird die Entwicklung eines Gasmischsystems (GMS) beschrieben, das die dynamische und rückführbare Generierung von langzeitstabilen VOC-Gasgemischen im ppb-Bereich erlaubt. Dabei werden Reinsubstanzen separat temperiert, ihrem Dampfdruck entsprechend verdampft und durch einen kleinen Inertgasstrom abgeführt. In einer Mischkammer werden sie schließlich zusammengeführt. Durch die Kombination von Verdampfungstemperatur, Träger- und Verdünnungsgasflüssen ist die Einstellung eines beliebigen Konzentrationsniveaus des Gasgemischs möglich. Aus einem Dauerbetrieb von sechs Wochen werden Untersuchungsergebnisse gezeigt. Dabei wurde die Apparatur mit insgesamt sieben flüchtigen organischen Verbindungen (VOC) unterschiedlicher Dampfdruckbereiche betrieben. Die Anlage lief über den gesamten Zeitraum stabil und lieferte reproduzierbare und auf die Masse als SI-Einheit rückführbare Gaskonzentrationen. Somit ist das Verfahren für Langzeitanwendungen geeignet.
Determination of radon exhalation from construction materials using VOC emission test chambers
(2013)
The inhalation of 222Rn (radon) decay products is one of the most important reasons for lung cancer after smoking. Stony building materials are an important source of indoor radon. This article describes the determination of the exhalation rate of stony construction materials by the use of commercially available measuring devices in combination with VOC emission test chambers. Five materials – two types of clay brick, clinker brick, light-weight concrete brick, and honeycomb brick – generally used for wall constructions were used for the experiments. Their contribution to real room concentrations was estimated by applying room model parameters given in ISO 16000-9, RP 112, and AgBB. This knowledge can be relevant, if for instance indoor radon concentration is limited by law. The test set-up used here is well suited for application in test laboratories dealing with VOC emission testing.