| Title: | Emissions of DEHP-free PVC flooring |
| Author(s): | Castagnoli E; Backlund P; Talvitie O; Tuomi T; Valtanen A; Mikkola R; Hovi H; Leino K; Kurnitski J; Salonen H; |
| Address: | "Department of Civil Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland. RTC Vahanen Turku Oy, Turku, Finland. The Building Information Foundation RTS sr, Helsinki, Finland. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1600-0668 (Electronic) 0905-6947 (Print) 0905-6947 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Degrading 2-ethylhexyl-containing PVC floorings (eg DEHP-PVC floorings) and adhesives emit 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH) in the indoor air. The danger of flooring degradation comes from exposing occupants to harmful phthalates plasticisers (eg DEHP), but not from 2-EH as such. Since the EU banned the use of phthalates in sensitive applications, the market is shifting to use DEHP-free and alternative types of plasticisers in PVC products. However, data on emissions from DEHP-free PVC floorings are scarce. This study aimed at assessing the surface and bulk emissions of two DEHP-free PVC floorings over three years. The floorings were glued on the screed layer of concrete casts at 75%, 85%, and 95% RH. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were actively sampled using FLEC (surface emissions) and micro-chamber/thermal extractor (micro-CTE, bulk emissions) onto Tenax TA adsorbents and analyzed with TD-GC-MS. 2-EH, C9-alcohols, and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) emissions are reported. Emissions at 75% and 85% RH were similar. As expected, the highest emissions occurred at 95% RH. 2-EH emissions originated from the adhesive. Because the two DEHP-free floorings tested emitted C9-alcohols at all tested RH, it makes the detection of flooring degradation harder, particularly if the adhesive used does not emit 2-EH" |
| Keywords: | "Adhesives/analysis Air Pollution, Indoor/*analysis Alcohols/analysis Environmental Exposure/*analysis Environmental Monitoring *Floors and Floorcoverings Hexanols/analysis Humans Plasticizers/analysis Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis 2-ethylhexanol C9-;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineCastagnoli, Emmanuelle Backlund, Peter Talvitie, Oskari Tuomi, Tapani Valtanen, Arja Mikkola, Raimo Hovi, Hanna Leino, Katri Kurnitski, Jarek Salonen, Heidi eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2019/07/28 Indoor Air. 2019 Nov; 29(6):903-912. doi: 10.1111/ina.12591. Epub 2019 Sep 11" |
