Influence of relative humidity on VOC concentrations in indoor air.
Author
Summary, in English
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may be emitted from surfaces indoors leading to compromised air quality. This study scrutinized the influence of relative humidity (RH) on VOC concentrations in a building that had been subjected to water damage. While air samplings in a damp room at low RH (21-22 %) only revealed minor amounts of 2-ethylhexanol (3 μg/m(3)) and 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol diisobutyrate (TXIB, 8 μg/m(3)), measurements performed after a rapid increase of RH (to 58-75 %) revealed an increase in VOC concentrations which was 3-fold for 2-ethylhexanol and 2-fold for TXIB. Similar VOC emission patterns were found in laboratory analyses of moisture-affected and laboratory-contaminated building materials. This study demonstrates the importance of monitoring RH when sampling indoor air for VOCs in order to avoid misleading conclusions from the analytical results.
Department/s
Publishing year
2015
Language
English
Pages
5772-5779
Publication/Series
Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Volume
22
Issue
8
Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Springer
Topic
- Environmental Sciences
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1614-7499