The indoor air quality in several types of dwellings that were renovated to save energy for spatial heating has been investigated. Concentrations of pollutants were monitored in three rooms of inhabited houses. Data of the outside air and ventilation and infiltration were also collected. Relationships were established between observed concentrations and ventilation. In some cases concentrations show a good relationship with the calculated air change rate, in other cases this relationship was poor or absent. Elevated levels of pollutants could be related to sources in most cases. The ventilation behavior of the inhabitants has a major influence on the concentrations. From this and other studies it can be concluded that, in general, making dwellings more airtight leads to higher concentrations of pollutants. Deviations from health‐related guidelines then become more likely.

The aim of the present study is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the membrane absorber as an air cleaner with small‐scale modules. Six small‐scale membrane modules with different fibre lengths and fibre diameters have been investigated. Each module has been tested as a membrane absorber treating air with 4 different chemicals, formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia and acetone, with tap water. The pressure drop and the filtration efficiency has been measured at different flow rates. From these results the optimal membrane module has been selected for the following reasons: low pressure drop, small required membrane surface area and high filtration efficiency. The experiments were continued with the selected module for ETS in a test room. Water soluble compounds were removed with an efficiency of at least 95%. The efficiency was inconsistent for NO, (not expected) and low for hydrocarbons (as expected). The sensory filtration efficiency was also measured with two different methods, the threshold method and the decipol method. Both efficiencies were about 50%. Recommendations for future research are given.