Emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from PVC floor coverings.

In this study 29 PVC floor coverings were tested for emission of vinyl chloride (VC) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A study on the effect of higher temperature on emission of VOCs from newly manufactured PVC flooring was also carried out. The study was conducted in climatic chamber, according to Polish Standard PN-89/Z-04021. GC method was used for analyzing of the compounds emitted. VC was not emitted from any of the floorings tested. Other VOCs were emitted in different concentrations. The influence of temperature on emission was conducted at temperatures of 23 degrees C and 35 degrees C from 2 hrs up to 180 days after introduction of materials in the chamber. The increase of temperature caused increase of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) emission during 24 hrs of experiment. Then the emission was comparable for both temperatures. After 9 days emission of identified and unidentified compounds (TVOC) showed a rapid decay and stayed on very low level during a few months. The study conducted showed that PVC floorings after 10 days of installation in the room should not be source of indoor air contamination.

Thermal desorption-gas chromatography for the determination of emission of volatile organic compounds from furnishing materials.

In order to determine volatile organic compounds (VOC) released from the building and furnishing materials gas chromatography with air samples enrichment on Tenax TA and thermal desorption was used. The results obtained were compared with the results of air samples enrichment on active carbon with carbon disulfide extraction. To the thermal desorption the home made device, a similar to device developed at Research Triangle Institute (USA), was used. The both methods of the air samples enrichment with thermal desorption or carbon disulfide extraction showed that the emission of the volatile organic compounds from the PVC floor covering is very low within the range from 0.01 to 0.03 mg/m2.h. Thermal desorption technique allows to detect a larger number of compounds in trace levels.