Estimates of emission strengths of 43 VOCs in wintertime residential indoor environments, Beijing

Lihui Huang; Yanru Wei; Liyuan Zhang; Zhe Ma; Weiping Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148623

Estimates of emission strengths of 43 VOCs in wintertime residential indoor environments, Beijing

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Nov 1:793:148623. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148623. Epub 2021 Jun 23.

Authors

Lihui Huang¹, Yanru Wei², Liyuan Zhang³, Zhe Ma², Weiping Zhao⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region, Ministry of Education, School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, China; Institute of Built Environment, Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: huanglh@chd.edu.cn.
² Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, China.
³ Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, China; Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region, Ministry of Education, School of Water and Environment, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, China.
⁴ Institute of Built Environment, Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China.

PMID: 34328960
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148623

Abstract

There are many sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor environments, leading to much higher total indoor VOC concentrations than outdoor counterparts. Given the potential health hazards associated with VOC exposure, it is necessary to estimate the indoor VOC emission strengths. In this study, the indoor and outdoor concentrations of 43 VOCs were concurrently measured in 8 urban residences, Beijing. The indoor/outdoor concentration ratio was used to screen out 36 species having significant indoor sources. A one-compartment steady-state model was developed to estimate the indoor emission strengths of these VOCs, in which ventilation and reaction with ozone were included as sink routes. The order of VOCs in terms of indoor emission strength was d-limonene (a median value of 1.05 g/h), α-pinene (82.50 mg/h), styrene (24.12 mg/h), ß-pinene (9.70 mg/h), formaldehyde (1.97 mg/h), n-dodecane (1.82 mg/h), n-pentadecane (1.66 mg/h), n-hexadecane (1.62 mg/h), n-undecane (1.20 mg/h), acetaldehyde (1.05 mg/h) and 1, 4-dichlorobenzene (0.80 mg/h). The sum of estimates of those VOCs accounted for >95% of total emission strength. Specific indoor sources of those VOCs in the tested homes were identified. Air exchange rate, indoor temperature and air humidity were found to pose significant impacts to the indoor emission strengths of VOCs.

Keywords: I/O ratio; Indoor air quality; Source emission strength; VOC.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution, Indoor* / analysis
Beijing
Environmental Monitoring
Formaldehyde / analysis
Volatile Organic Compounds* / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Volatile Organic Compounds
Formaldehyde