Characterisation of VOC and Formaldehyde Emission from Building Materials in a Static Environmental Chamber: Model Development and Application

Abstract

This paper first derives an analytical solution based on Laplace transformation for describing the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde emission characteristics from building materials in a static chamber; the modelling method is then validated by application using previously reported experimental data. Based on the analytical solution and normalised analysis, the VOC emission characteristics can be advantageously deduced by scaling in dimensionless forms. The findings of this study shows that the dimensionless emission rate is a function of three dimensionless parameters: the ratio of the mass transfer Biot number to the partition coefficient; the mass transfer Fourier number; and the ratio of the VOC mass in the building material to that measured in the chamber at equilibrium. A group of dimensionless correlations for predicting the dimensionless emission rate were obtained through numerical simulation and characteristic parameter regression, and this was verified by experimental data. The dimensionless correlations are simple to use, and would allow scaling of the emission characteristics obtained from the static chamber to the more realistic conditions of a building and this would be useful for design engineer to minimize emissions of VOCs and formaldehyde in building environments.