Indoor/Outdoor Measurements of Formaldehyde and Total Aldehydes

Conference · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1979

OSTI ID:5838995

Lin, Chin-I ^[1]; Anaclerio, Roy N. ^[1]; Anthon, Douglas W. ^[1]; Fanning, Leah Z. ^[1]; Hollowell, Craig D. ^[1]

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1. University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL)

When infiltration and ventilation of a building are reduced in order to achieve energy savings, indoor air quality might deteriorate. Formaldehyde and other aldehydes, important indoor air contaminants, were studied as a function of building air exchange rates in public buildings and energy-efficient research houses. Sequential gas bubbling systems were used in conjunction with a pneumatic flow control system for field sampling. Samples were collected simultaneously for formaldehyde and total aliphatic aldehydes, and were analyzed in the laboratory using modified chromotropic acid, pararosaniline and MBTH methods. At public buildings, it was found that concentrations of formaldehyde and aldehydes were about the same in indoor and outdoor air due largely to traditionally high ventilation rates in these buildings. However, it is evident that indoor air in general has higher formaldehyde and total aliphatic aldehyde levels than outdoor air. Residential buildings and office trailers, in particular, have formaldehyde and total aliphatic aldehyde concentrations that can exceed the promulgated European indoor formaldehyde standard of 120 μg/m³ (~100 ppB). Since these high air contaminant levels might have adverse health and comfort effects on building occupants, further study is needed to establish ventilation requirements for energy-efficient building designs.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley (USA). Lawrence Berkeley Lab.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5838995
• Report Number(s): LBL--9397; EEB-Vent--79-7; CONF-790917--10
• Resource Type: Conference paper
• Conference Information: American Chemical Society national meeting, Washington, DC (United States), 9-14 Sep 1979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320101* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Residential Buildings-- (-1987)
320103 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- School
Municipal
& Other Public Buildings-- (-1987)
AIR INFILTRATION
AIR POLLUTION
AIR QUALITY
ALDEHYDES
BUILDINGS
DATA
DATA FORMS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FORMALDEHYDE
GRAPHS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
INFORMATION
MBTH
MEASURING METHODS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
VENTILATION
air sampling
aldehydes
building materials
chromotropic acid
energy conservation
energy-efficient
formaldehyde
houses
indoor air quality
infiltration
pararosaniline
public buildings
residential buildings
ventilation
ventilation rate