Influence of relative humidity on VOC concentrations in indoor air

Markowicz, Pawel; Larsson, Lennart

Influence of relative humidity on VOC concentrations in indoor air

2015

Markowicz, Pawel | Larsson, Lennart

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) may be emitted from surfaces indoors leading to compromised air quality. This study scrutinized the influence of relative humidity (RH) on VOC concentrations in a building that had been subjected to water damage. While air samplings in a damp room at low RH (21–22 %) only revealed minor amounts of 2-ethylhexanol (3 μg/m³) and 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol diisobutyrate (TXIB, 8 μg/m³), measurements performed after a rapid increase of RH (to 58–75 %) revealed an increase in VOC concentrations which was 3-fold for 2-ethylhexanol and 2-fold for TXIB. Similar VOC emission patterns were found in laboratory analyses of moisture-affected and laboratory-contaminated building materials. This study demonstrates the importance of monitoring RH when sampling indoor air for VOCs in order to avoid misleading conclusions from the analytical results.

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