Association between the emissions of volatile organic compounds from vehicular cabin materials and temperature: Correlation and exposure analysis

In-cabin air pollution may be mainly ascribed to the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from vehicular cabin materials. Some measurement methods have been proposed by organizations around the world to evaluate the quality of cabin materials. According to the widely used German Standard VDA278, the emission quantity of VOCs from cabin materials over a certain period is taken as an indicator of quality. The VOC emission quantity is generally related to temperature, but the quantitative association between emissions and temperature has not been previously reported. In this paper, we derive a theoretical relationship between the short- and mid-term VOC emission quantity (M) and temperature (T) and show that the logarithm of MT-1/8 is linear with 1/T. Experimental data in the literature on VOC emissions from four vehicular materials at varying temperatures were used for analysis. The logarithm of MT-1/8 and 1/T was found to follow a good linear association with R-2 being 0.89-0.99, which is in agreement with the theoretical relationship. Using this relationship, the VOC emission quantity at a temperature different from the test condition can be predicted. In addition, preliminary exposure analysis was conducted to predict the health risks from selected VOCs detected from emissions in vehicular cabin environments under various temperature scenarios.