Emissions Characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds and Health Risk Assessment in Two Fresh Furniture

The emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from two common furniture products including a dressing stool and a bedside cabinet were measured in an environmental chamber. The VOCs were collected by Tenax-TA tubes and measured by thermal desorption and gas chromatography (FID). 19 kinds of VOCs were quantitatively analyzed by the external standard method. The results showed that the VOCs concentrations emitted from the two kinds of furniture were quite different, but benzene homologues were the principal pollutant. The concentrations of VOCs released from the furniture showed decreases exponentially with time and it could be fitted well by a double-exponential decay model. The concentrations of VOCs increased rapidly and reached the maximums at around 1 or 2 h, and then declined with the slowdown of the release rate. Moreover, the potential VOCs release could be evaluated by the release parameters of this model. In addition, health risk assessment of benzene released from dressing stools and bedside cabinets was performed. The risk of benzene released from two kinds of furniture decreased with time. The R value of benzene released from the dressing stool at 72 h remained at least two orders of magnitude larger than 1 x 10(-6), indicating a high risk of carcinogenesis. The study will provide a reliable reference in assessing VOCs emissions and health risks in fresh furniture.