Pollution characteristics of total volatile organic compounds in indoor air of urban residential buildings in China / 环境与职业医学

Total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) are the main indoor pollutants. Long-term exposure to excessive TVOCs will cause acute and chronic adverse health effects. In order to understand current indoor TVOCs pollution in urban residential buildings in China, we searched related literature of indoor TVOCs in urban residential buildings published in CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, Web of Science, and PubMed from 2000 to 2021, and analyzed the pollution characteristics and main sources of indoor TVOCs in urban residential buildings in China. The results showed that the average TVOCs concentration range in urban residential buildings in China was 0.18-1.45 mg·m−3, which was widely distributed and exceeded the relevant national standard. The concentrations of TVOCs in bedrooms, study rooms, and kitchens were relatively high among different rooms. Indoor sources such as decoration materials and human activities after moving in were the main sources of TVOCs, and the concentration of TVOCs decreased the most in 4-6 months after the completion of decoration. However, extending the vacancy time after the completion of decoration is not the best method to effectively remove indoor TVOCs, especially for the areas where indoor air pollutants severely exceeding the national limit, it is necessary to control pollution sources to reduce indoor TVOCs concentration. For the study of indoor air TVOCs, future study directions could be the ratio of indoor and outdoor TVOCs concentration and the analysis of indoor human activities and other pollution sources.

Exposure Characteristics of Construction Painters to Organic Solvents

BACKGROUND: Construction painters have not been studied well in terms of their hazards exposure. The objective of this study was to evaluate the exposure levels of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) for painters in the construction industry. METHODS: Activity-specific personal air samplings were carried out in three waterproofing activities [polyurethane (PU), asphalt, and cement mortar] and three painting activities (epoxy, oil based, and water based) by using organic-vapor-monitor passive-sampling devices. Gas chromatograph with flame ionization detector could be used for identifying and quantifying individual organic chemicals. The levels of TVOCs, by summing up 15 targeted substances, were expressed in exposure-index (EI) values. RESULTS: As arithmetic means in the order of concentration levels, the EIs of TVOCs in waterproofing works were 10.77, 2.42, 1.78, 1.68, 0.47, 0.07, and none detected (ND) for indoor PU-primer task, outdoor PU-primer task, outdoor PU-resin task, indoor PU-resin task, asphalt-primer task, asphalt-adhesive task, and cement-mortar task, respectively. The highest EI for painting works was 5.61 for indoor epoxy-primer task, followed by indoor epoxy-resin task (2.03), outdoor oil-based-spray-paint task (1.65), outdoor water-based-paint task (0.66), and indoor oil-based-paint task (0.15). Assuming that the operations were carried out continuously for 8 hours without breaks and by using the arithmetic means of EIs for each of the 12 tasks in this study, 58.3% (7 out of 12) exceeded the exposure limit of 100% (EI > 1.0), while 8.3% (1 out of 12) was in 50-100% of exposure limit (0.5 > EI > 1.0), and 4 tasks out of 12 were located in less than 50% of the limit range (EI < 0.5). CONCLUSION: From this study, we recognized that construction painters are exposed to various solvents, including carcinogens and reproductive toxins, and the levels of TVOC concentration in many of the painting tasks exceeded the exposure limits. Construction workers need to be protected from chemical agents during their painting works by using personal protective devices and/or work practice measures. Additional studies should focus on the exposure assessment of other hazards for construction workers, in order to identify high-risk tasks and to improve hazardous work environments.

Effect of Polyurushiol Paint on Indoor Air Quality and Atopic Dermatitis / 대한피부과학회지

BACKGROUND: Environmental factors can influence the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis. In particular, a westernized residential environment that increases the density of house dust mites and gives rise to sick house syndrome could be a causative factor. Urushiol compounds extracted from Rhus verniciflua, a lacquer tree, have anti-insect and anti-microbial actions and reduce TVOC (total volatile organic compounds). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effects of paint containing a novel polyurushiol synthesized from the extract of Rhus verniciflua on indoor air quality and atopic dermatitis patients. METHODS: Nine patients with atopic dermatitis resistant to ordinary treatments were enrolled in this clinical trial. Patient rooms were painted with paint containing a novel polyurushiol extracted and synthesized from Rhus verniciflua. We measured TVOC before and after the painting. After a month, patients were evaluated with objective indices such as EASI score, serum IgE, eosinophil levels, and subjective satisfaction. RESULTS: even of nine patients showed objective or subjective improvements of clinical symptoms, and TVOCs were reduced after painting. The questionnaire indicated that many patients felt an improvement in air quality. CONCLUSION: Painting with a novel polyurushiol synthesized from the extract of Rhus verniciflua could improve indoor air quality and atopic dermatitis.

Indoor Air Pollution Caused by Smoking / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To understand the indoor air pollution caused by smoking and the influencing factors.Methods On the different time after and before smoking,the concentrations of carbon monoxide(CO),inhalabe particle(IP),formaldehyde,total volatile organic compounds(TVOC) in the air in an office were determined,the influence factors such as ventilated conditions and the number of smokers were investigated.Results When the windows and doors were closed,the concentrations of indoor air pollutants at the different time after smoking in the office were obviously higher than those without smoking,and formaldehyde and TVOC still exceeded the standard limit after 3 hours.When the windows and doors were opened,the concentrations of indoor air pollutants after smoking increased obviously,but decreased to the level of no smoking about 30 minutes later.When the windows and doors were opened,the peak values of the indoor air pollutants resulted by smoking were obviously lower than those when the windows and doors were closed.The peak values of the pollutants were positively related to the number of smokers. Conclusion Indoor air pollution caused by smoking is serious.Ventilation can reduce the indoor air pollution effectively.

Time Variation Regularity of TVOC in Indoor Air in Newly Decorated Houses / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To investigate the pollution condition and concentration variability of TVOC in different time after the decoration finished. Methods 57 newly decorated houses were collected in two districts in Guiyang and TVOC monitoring was conducted for 6 months. Results At the first monitoring time, the content range of TVOC was 0.532-23.560 mg/m3 and the median was 2.573 mg/m3. The content range of high, middle and low concentration after determination was 5.520-23.560 mg/m3, 2.004-4.993 mg/m3 and 0.532-1.905 mg/m3 respectively and the median was 10.150, 2.320, 1.074 mg/m3 respectively. 147 days after the decoration the concentration decreased to 0.6 mg/m3. Conclusion The pollution of TVOC in the newly decorated houses is severe. 147 days after the decoration, the concentration of TVOC may decrease and reaches to under the standard limit.

Measurement and Evaluation of Environmental Factors in Underground Construction Site / 航天医学与医学工程

Objective To Evaluate the environment quality in underground construction site based on the measurement of atmosphere composition and microclimate. Method Concentrations and composition of gases were analyzed by combined detection with mass spectrometer and gas chromatograph. Microbial content was detected by striking method. A microclimate model was built based on the measurements of temperature, humidity and wind speed in two years. Result Concentrations of inorganic gas was higher than national standard. Total volatile organic compounds were in the range of 4～6 mg/m3, which highly exceeded the national standard. Concentration of O2 descended obviously at the time when personnel went into the construction site, and was lower than the national standard of 299 mg/m3 after continuous working for 3 h. When an aerator was started, the average noise level was in the range of 70～93 dB, which was higher than the national standard(55～70 dB). In the course of working, the average microbial content reached 4 000 cfu/m3 which was 3 times as high as the background level. The microclimate characteristic with high humidity, low temperature and inadequate sunshine was unsuitable for dwelling. Conclusion Environment in the underground construction site is unfavorable as compared with that on the ground. The physiological function of working staff may be influenced obviously due to cumulative effect of the above mentioned factors, and may lead to aprosexia, hypomnesis, fatigue, etc. Six kinds of protection means are suggested in the paper.

Study of the Current Status and Influence Factors of Indoor Air Pollution through 138 Houses in Urban Area in Xi’an / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To get knowledge of the indoor air pollution states in the newly renovated apartments in Xi’an city, and explore the relationship among the major pollutants and the relationship between the pollutants and the differences of seasons. Methods From January, 2006 to May, 2007, we randomly selected 138 newly renovated (3 months or less) apartments in the urban area of Xi’an city, tested their indoor (including bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, bathrooms, study, a total of 597) content of formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), ammonia, benzene, toluene and xylene. Results Among which were detected in all of the pollutants, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) and formaldehyde own the highest exceeding rates, respectively 69.8% and 60.8%. They are followed by ammonia, whose exceeding rate is 13.2%, xylene which has the highest exceeding rate among the benzene compounds, 8.7%. We did comparative analysis of the concentration in different types of rooms for the pollutants which are among the top four in exceeding rate ranks, and found that only for formaldehyde, there is significant difference in statistics (P