Screening and selecting building materials and products based on their emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
- Hal Levin and Associates, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States). Energy and Environment Div.
The cost of emissions tests and other factors have discouraged nearly all but the largest product manufacturers from obtaining emissions data. Emissions data, where available, require toxicologic evaluation before design professionals and other potential purchasers can use them. The absence of health effects information at the low exposures likely to occur from normal indoor uses of most products and materials increases the uncertainty in any such evaluation. The complex mixture emitted by most products poses an additional interpretation problem. A simple screening procedure to identify potentially problematic products has been developed, and preliminary experience indicates it may be suitable for screening or comparing products during selection by design professionals and other consumers. Commercial specimens are tested for emissions in a small, controlled, dynamic test container over a 24-h period after initial screening by headspace analysis. A relatively short-term test of emissions from office work stations using a large-scale chamber is also presented. Finally, procedures and criteria for evaluating the results of emissions tests with respect to the selection of products are discussed. With these procedures, measured and modeled concentrations are compared to published values for human toxicity, irritation, and odor and the existing data on indoor concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
- OSTI ID:
- 524718
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9409474-; ISBN 0-8031-2030-3; TRN: IM9740%%192
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Symposium on methods for characterizing indoor sources and sinks, Washington, DC (United States), 25-28 Sep 1994; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Characterizing sources of indoor air pollution and related sink effects; Tichenor, B.A. [ed.]; PB: 419 p.; ASTM special technical publication, 1287
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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