| Title: | "Emerging investigator series: primary emissions, ozone reactivity, and byproduct emissions from building insulation materials" |
| Author(s): | Chin K; Laguerre A; Ramasubramanian P; Pleshakov D; Stephens B; Gall ET; |
| Address: | "Portland State University, Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Portland, OR, USA. gall@pdx.edu" |
| Journal Title: | Environ Sci Process Impacts |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2050-7895 (Electronic) 2050-7887 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Building insulation materials can affect indoor air by (i) releasing primary volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from building enclosure cavities to the interior space, (ii) mitigating exposure to outdoor pollutants through reactive deposition (of oxidants, e.g., ozone) or filtration (of particles) in infiltration air, and (iii) generating secondary VOCs and other gas-phase byproducts resulting from oxidant reactions. This study reports primary VOC emission fluxes, ozone (O3) reaction probabilities (gamma), and O3 reaction byproduct yields for eight common, commercially available insulation materials. Fluxes of primary VOCs from the materials, measured in a continuous flow reactor using proton transfer reaction-time of flight-mass spectrometry, ranged from 3 (polystyrene with thermal backing) to 61 (cellulose) mumol m-2 h-1 (with total VOC mass emission rates estimated to be between approximately 0.3 and approximately 3.3 mg m-2 h-1). Major primary VOC fluxes from cellulose were tentatively identified as compounds likely associated with cellulose chemical and thermal decomposition products. Ozone-material gamma ranged from approximately 1 x 10-6 to approximately 30 x 10-6. Polystyrene with thermal backing and polyisocyanurate had the lowest gamma, while cellulose and fiberglass had the highest. In the presence of O3, total observed volatile byproduct yields ranged from 0.25 (polystyrene) to 0.85 (recycled denim) moles of VOCs produced per mole of O3 consumed, or equivalent to secondary fluxes that range from 0.71 (polystyrene) to 10 (recycled denim) mumol m-2 h-1. Major emitted products in the presence of O3 were generally different from primary emissions and were characterized by yields of aldehydes and acetone. This work provides new data that can be used to evaluate and eventually model the impact of 'hidden' materials (i.e., those present inside wall cavities) on indoor air quality. The data may also guide building enclosure material selection, especially for buildings in areas of high outdoor O3" |
| Keywords: | "Air Pollutants/*analysis Air Pollution, Indoor/*analysis Construction Materials/*analysis Filtration Ozone/*chemistry Volatile Organic Compounds/*analysis;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineChin, Kyle Laguerre, Aurelie Ramasubramanian, Pradeep Pleshakov, David Stephens, Brent Gall, Elliott T eng England 2019/04/03 Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2019 Aug 14; 21(8):1255-1267. doi: 10.1039/c9em00024k" |
