Journal
BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT
Volume 125, Issue -, Pages 339-347Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2017.08.052
Keywords
Indoor air quality; SVOC source; Emission characteristic; Vapor pressure; Flame retardants
Funding
- national key project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China on Green Buildings and Building Industrialization [2017YFC0702700]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51678397]
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Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) are widely used in various indoor materials and their adverse health effects have been increasingly recognized. The gas-phase SVOC concentration in equilibrium with the source material (y(0)), as a characteristic parameter for SVOC sources, is mostly assumed to be constant in previous studies. However, decreases in y(0) with time have been observed in some studies. As a first step to reveal the mechanism behind the phenomenon, this study quantitatively investigated the variation of y(0) over time under two conditions: natural exposure to outdoor ambient (Case 1), and storage in a controlled ventilated chamber (Case 2). Three phthalates (Di-iso-butyl Phthalate (DiBP), Di-n-butyl Phthalate (DnBP), and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)) emitted from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) floorings and one flame retardant (tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate, TCPP) emitted from polyurethane foam (PUF) were targeted. Experimental results indicated that, for SVOCs with higher volatility, i.e., DiBP, DnBP, and TCPP, y(0) decreased 16%49% after 60 days' exposure for Case 1; and 16%36% for Case 2. For SVOCs with lower volatility, i.e., DEHP, no significant decrease in y(0) was observed after 60 days in both cases; while if prolonging the time to about 1.5 years, a decrease of 38% was observed. Discussion about potential reasons for the decrease of y(0) was presented. The results obtained here provide a further understanding about SVOC source characteristics and therefore help providing source strength for estimating indoor SVOC health exposure. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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