Title: | Influence of relative humidity on VOC concentrations in indoor air |
Address: | "Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Solvegatan 23, 223 62, Lund, Sweden" |
Journal Title: | Environ Sci Pollut Res Int |
DOI: | 10.1007/s11356-014-3678-x |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1614-7499 (Electronic) 0944-1344 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "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 mug/m(3)) and 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol diisobutyrate (TXIB, 8 mug/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" |
Keywords: | "Air Pollution, Indoor/*analysis Construction Materials/analysis Environmental Monitoring Glycols/*analysis Hexanols/*analysis Humidity Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis;" |
Notes: | "MedlineMarkowicz, Pawel Larsson, Lennart eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Germany 2014/10/28 Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2015 Apr; 22(8):5772-9. doi: 10.1007/s11356-014-3678-x. Epub 2014 Oct 28" |