Assessment on emission of volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde from building materials

This paper assesses the reproducibility of testing formaldehyde and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) emissions from wood-based composites such as MDF (medium density fiberboard), hardboard, plywood, coated and raw particleboards, planed pine lumber, and gypsum board. Sawdust and shavings were also included in the study. With the help of a special device, air was sucked from the surfaces of the materials and then was adsorbed on charcoal and Tenax tubes. The adsorbed VOCs were determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The emission of formaldehyde was determined separately with Interscan Toxic Gas analyzer and chamber method. The results showed that the most emitted VOCs were terpenes, aldehydes, and aromatics. Pine wood plank revealed the highest VOCs (approximately 900 mu g/m(3)). Fresh particleboard showed the second highest value with 450 mu g/m(3). The VOC value of other examined materials were 80-170 mu g/m(3). The composition of the emitted compounds was remarkably similar among the different materials. The low VOC emission from the board materials investigated did not verify the hypothesis that these materials provided a tangible contribution to VOCs in the indoor air. Emission of formaldehyde from the board materials studied was very low with an exception. The exception was MDF with an emission value of 0.63 mg/m(3) formaldehyde whereas all the other materials examined had values around 0.05 mg/m(3) or appreciably lower. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.