Factors Effecting the Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) Concentrations in Slovak Households

Abstract

Thirty five Slovak households were selected for an investigation of indoor environmental quality. Measuring of indoor air physical and chemical factors and a questionnaire survey was performed during May 2017. The range of permissible operative temperature was not met in 11% of objects. Relative humidity met the legislative requirements in all monitored homes. Concentrations of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) were significantly higher in the apartments than in the family houses. The average TVOC levels in the apartments and family houses were 519.7 µg/m3 and 330.2 µg/m3, respectively. Statistical analysis confirmed the effect of indoor air temperature, relative humidity and particulate matter (PM0.5 and PM1) on the levels of TVOCs. Higher TVOC levels were observed also in homes where it is not a common practice to open windows during cleaning activities. Other factors that had a statistically significant effect on concentrations of volatile organic compounds were heating type, attached garage, location of the apartment within residential building (the floor), as well as number of occupants. Higher TVOC concentrations were observed in indoor than outdoor environment, while further analysis showed the significant impact of indoor emission sources on the level of these compounds in buildings. The questionnaire study showed a discrepancy between objective measurement and subjective assessment in the household environment, and pointed to insufficient public awareness about volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Assessment of the Indoor Air Quality of Akure, South – West, Nigeria

“…Before the measurements, all the air conditions, fans, other ventilators were switched off, and all windows and doors were shut during the measurement periods. Assessments were carried out in the living rooms because they are the central rooms where members of the families spend time together (Meˇciarová et al, 2017). Also, the PM 2.5 /PM 10 was determined.…”

“…Several studies on indoor air quality have been published for example, Wang et al (2008); Petry et al (2014), Chen et al (2016); Shi et al (2016); Meˇciarová et al (2017); Lee et al (2018) many of the interests were on PM, TVOC, formaldehyde, O 3 , CO, CO 2 , and other aldehydes. Many of their observations were elevated levels of the parameters over the recommended standards.…”

“…Many of their observations were elevated levels of the parameters over the recommended standards. Different source apportionment (Li et al, 2014;Ma et al, 2016), methodologies (Chen et al (2016); Shi et al (2016); Meˇciarová et al (2017); Lee et al (2018), and instruments (Jiao et al, 2015;Van den Bossche et al, 2016;Zikova et al, 2017;Lee et al, 2018) have been used to determine and identify air pollution parameters. In Nigeria, many studies have not been done on indoor air pollution in Nigeria, but few literates obtained were done in Enugu (Ezezue and Diogu, 2017), Warri (Akpofure, 2015), Ile -Ife (Afolabi et al, 2016), Ido Ekiti (Ayodele et al, 2016), No report has been found for indoor pollution from Akure.…”

Impact of Biomass Home Heating, Cooking Styles, and Bread Toasting on the Indoor Air Quality at Portuguese Dwellings: A Case Study

“…These indoor sources may be associated with specific frequent activities carried out by dwellers, such as cooking [15,16], cleaning [17], candle burning [18], home heating [19][20][21][22], vacuuming [15], and other activities, which increase pollutants above acceptable indoor levels. A wide range of pollutants can originate via these activities including particulate matter (PM 2.5 , PM 10 ) [23], ultrafine particles (UFP) [15,24], volatile organic compounds (VOCs) [25,26], carbon dioxide [19], carbon monoxide [19,22], formaldehyde [19], polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [16,27], among others. For instance, cooking was found to increase PM levels by four times the background levels in a study at 14 naturally ventilated homes of Hong Kong [28].…”

Air leakage modelling and its influence on the air quality inside a garage

“…Studies have also shown the link between contaminant concentration and the application of an attached garage. It can be a significant contaminant contributor to the indoor environment [3][4][5]being the source of not only carbon dioxide but also, among other contaminants like carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOC) [6], benzene and nitrogen dioxide. Nirvan et al [3] undertook studies concerning the contaminants from a garage of a house using computer simulations.…”