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

ABSTRACT

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.