Effect of Temperature and Humidity on Formaldehyde Emissions in Temporary Housing Units

Parthasarathy, Srinandini; Maddalena, Randy L.; Russell, Marion; Apte, Michael G.

doi:10.3155/1047-3289.61.6.689

Cited by 94 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The indoor formaldehyde concentrations observed in this study suggests that the indoor formaldehyde concentration levels in the four types of public places has always been a serious problem in China. Combining documented literatures data (Parthasarathy et al, 2011;Gao et al, 2012;Yu et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2014;Mishra et al, 2015) with some of the conclusions obtained in this study, we conclude that the widespread existence of indoor formaldehyde pollutant sources including decorations, merchandise, wood composites, chemical auxiliaries, etc., were the primary causes for the deterioration of the indoor air quality. However, we cannot ignore the other indoor environmental factors in this situation including temperature, humidity, and air change rate that are also important factors affecting the variation of formaldehyde concentrations in the different types of indoor environments.…”

Section: Formaldehyde Pollution Levels In Comparison With Other Studiessupporting

confidence: 88%

“…It was further found that the overall mean formaldehyde concentration of the four typical places in descending order was furniture market > mall > hotel > restaurant. In general, the remarkable difference in the formaldehyde pollution levels of the four types of public places may have been due to the contributions of several factors such as different variations of indoor environmental conditions, the various pollutant sources, the position of the emission sources, as well as variations of environment conditions (Parthasarathy et al, 2011;Yu and Kim, 2012).…”

Section: Formaldehyde Concentrations Of Indoor Airmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigation of the Pollution Level and Affecting Factors of Formaldehyde in Typical Public Places in Guangxi, China

Hong

Meng

Xie

et al. 2017

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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This study focused on measuring the concentration of formaldehyde in furniture markets, malls, hotels, and restaurants in Guilin, Liuzhou, and Nanning in Guangxi, China. Correlations between the indoor formaldehyde concentration and temperature, humidity, and air change rate were also obtained. The sixty sampled public places selected for this study represented the typical public indoor environment in Guangxi. The percentages of measured formaldehyde concentrations exceeding the standard (0.1 mg m -3 ) in furniture markets, malls, and hotels were 94%, 87%, and 20%, respectively. The highest concentrations measured in furniture markets, malls, hotels, and restaurants were 0.313 mg m ). This work shows that wood-related decorations and merchandise that contain high levels of formaldehyde are the major sources of formaldehyde pollution in indoor environments. Further analysis demonstrates that strong correlations (r > 0.80, p < 0.01) exist between the indoor formaldehyde concentration and temperature, humidity, and air change rate, which indicate that these environmental factors appear to be additional key reasons for the high levels of indoor formaldehyde pollution. The results show that a decrease in temperature and humidity or an increase in air change can effectively alleviate the level of indoor formaldehyde pollution. The findings of this study further promote the development of measures to control indoor air pollution.

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Section: Formaldehyde Pollution Levels In Comparison With Other Studiessupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Formaldehyde Concentrations Of Indoor Airmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the Pollution Level and Affecting Factors of Formaldehyde in Typical Public Places in Guangxi, China

Hong

Meng

Xie

et al. 2017

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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“…The steady-state formaldehyde concentration and time-integrated cumulative exposure were evaluated. As seen in earlier studies 2,12 , temperature and relative humidity have a strong influence on the concentration of formaldehyde in all types of THUs. Travel trailer THUs are found to have higher formaldehyde concentration compared to mobile homes or park models.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

A Formaldehyde Exposure Assessment Tool for Occupants of FEMA Temporary Housing Units

Parthasarathy¹

2010

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The report outlines the methodology used to develop a web-based tool to assess the formaldehyde exposure of the occupants of Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) temporary housing units (THUs) after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Linear regression models were built using available data to retrospectively estimate the indoor temperature and relative humidity, formaldehyde emission factors and concentration, and hence the formaldehyde exposures. The interactive web-tool allows the user to define the inputs to the model to evaluate formaldehyde exposures for different scenarios.ii LIST OF TABLES EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe objective of this study was to estimate the formaldehyde exposure experienced by occupants of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) temporary housing units (THUs). An empirical web-based formaldehyde exposure assessment tool was developed as described in this report.The tool is based on a set of regression models to estimate the formaldehyde emission factors in THUs. The emission factors are subsequently used to estimate exposure concentrations, which are combined with activity pattern information provided by the user to estimate the formaldehyde exposure experience by THU occupants. The regression models were derived using data from the following studies: Indoor temperature and relative humidity (RH) were also measured in all the trailers during sampling. Indoor temperatures were varied (increased or decreased) in a subset of THUs s using the heating and air conditioning systems. Indoor temperatures during sampling ranged from 14º C to 33º C, and relative humidity (RH) varied between 35% to 74%. Ventilation rates were also increased in some trailers using exhaust fans and vents during some of the sampling events. Ventilation rates varied from 0.14 to 4.3 h -1 .Weather data 3 Hourly outdoor temperature and relative humidity at weather stations near the locations of interest were obtained from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).The following regression models were constructed: 1) Indoor temperature in the THUs -A linear regression model was built with indoor temperature as the dependent variable, outdoor temperature from NOAAs weather data 3 as a continuous independent variable, and air conditioning and heating usage from CDC survey 1 as categorical independent variables. 2) Indoor relative humidity in the THUs -A linear regression model was built with indoor relative humidity as the dependent variable, outdoor relative humidity from NOAAs weather data 3 as a continuous independent variable, air conditioning and heating usage from CDC survey 1 as categorical independent variables. vi 3) Formaldehyde emission factor in the travel trailer type THUs 2 -A linear regression model was derived with formaldehyde emission factor as the dependent variable, using continuous independent variables including the log of the predicted percent indoor relative humidity, the inverse of predicted indoor temperature (in K -1 ), and the inverse log of the use...

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“…To determine the effect of measurement uncertainty, the following procedure was employed: 1) for each residence a possible 'true' value was sampled from the posterior distribution associated with each measurement; i.e., each solid black point in Figure 2 The relative humidity in the space can also impact formaldehyde emission rates (e.g., Myers 1985, Parthasarathy et al, 2011. Unfortunately measurements of relative humidity were not made in all VIAQ homes.…”

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confidence: 99%

Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde exposure mitigation in US residences: in‐home measurements of ventilation control and source control

et al. 2014

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Measurements were taken in new US residences to assess the extent to which ventilation and source control can mitigate formaldehyde exposure. Increasing ventilation consistently lowered indoor formaldehyde concentrations. However, at a reference air exchange rate of 0.35 h -1 , increasing ventilation was up to 60% less effective than would be predicted if the emission rate were constant. This is consistent with formaldehyde emission rates decreasing as air concentrations increase, as observed in chamber studies. In contrast, measurements suggest acetaldehyde emission was independent of ventilation rate. To (OEHHA 2013) may require combining source control with ventilation. Ventilation rates could be increased during the first year after construction when VOC concentrations tend to be highest.

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Effect of Temperature and Humidity on Formaldehyde Emissions in Temporary Housing Units

Cited by 94 publications

References 13 publications

Investigation of the Pollution Level and Affecting Factors of Formaldehyde in Typical Public Places in Guangxi, China

Investigation of the Pollution Level and Affecting Factors of Formaldehyde in Typical Public Places in Guangxi, China

A Formaldehyde Exposure Assessment Tool for Occupants of FEMA Temporary Housing Units

Formaldehyde and acetaldehyde exposure mitigation in US residences: in‐home measurements of ventilation control and source control

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