Transient Analysis of VOC Concentrations for Estimating Emission Rates.
Transient Analysis of VOC Concentrations for Estimating
Emission Rates.
(302 K)
Persily, A. K.; Howard-Reed, C.; Nabinger, S. J.
Indoor Air 2002, 9th International Conference on Indoor
Air Quality and Climate. Proceedings. Volume 2. June
30-July 5, 2002, Monterey, CA, 189-194 pp, 2002.
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Keywords:
emission rates; field tests; measurement; volatile
organic compounds
Abstract:
While VOC emissions rates have been obtained for
building materials and furnishings in chambers, field
measurements are more difficult due to the existence of
multiple and time-varying sources, variations in
ventilation rates, impacts of adsorption and desorption,
and other complexities associated with field testing.
Procedures to estimate emission rates and sink
parameters using transient analysis of VOC
concentrations are applied in a two-story
classroom/office building. The analysis is based on
semi-realtime VOC concentrations determined with a
portable GC/FID and simultaneous air change rate
measurements using tracer gas decay. The results of the
analysis yield consistent values of emission rates for
building materials, but less consistent estimates of
emission rates associated with occupant activities and
of sink model parameters. The approach can be used in
other buildings, and the results indicate that
simultaneous air change rate measurements are critical
to estimating VOC emission rates in the field.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899