Chamber testing of organic emission from building and furnishing materials

The equipment and the procedure employed for the qualitative and quantitative determination of the volatile organic compounds emitted from samples of building and furnishing materials are described. The equipment includes two small test chambers (0.45 m3), with accurately controlled temperature, relative humidity and air flow rate, and instrumentation for sampling and analysis (Tenax tubes, GC-FID and GC-MS). To find quasi-steady-state emission conditions, the procedure includes the determination of the time profiles of the organic compounds concentration, which develop after the introduction of the samples into the chamber. A best-fitting, double exponential equation is used for this purpose. The procedure has been applied to three materials: particle board with carpet; gypsum board with wallpaper; and plywood with polyurethane lacquer, for which the steady-state emission factors (mg m-2 h-1) of several compounds are given. Many other compounds were identified, but were not quantified. Some comments are given on the health significance of the compounds emitted from the materials when used indoors.