Indoor Air Background Levels of Volatile Organic Compounds and Air‐Phase Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Office Buildings and Schools

Bs, Richard Rago; Bs, Andy Rezendes; Peters, J.; Bs, Kelly Chatterton; Kammari, Arun

doi:10.1111/gwmr.12433

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(64 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The substantial scatter suggests that the observed VOC concentrations are not solely dependent on temperature. There is evidence suggesting that methanol emissions are mostly biogenic and should therefore exhibit temperature-dependent behavior like the other VOCs examined in Figure ; however, despite its ubiquity indoors, ,,,, sources of indoor methanol emissions are understudied. Current identified sources include cooking, “continuous indoor sources”, wood decomposition, and exhaled breath. ,,, Ethanol is likely transported from the living space to the attic rather than directly emitted. , The temperature reported is the air temperature, rather than interior attic surface temperature, which may differ depending on the controlling heat transfer processes and heat capacities of different compartments .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: ■ Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Volatile Organic Compound Composition and Emissions in a Residential Attic

Molinier,

Arata,

Lunderberg

et al. 2024

ACS EST Air

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important constituents of indoor and urban air pollution. Emissions into building attics have rarely been studied, resulting in a lack of information about this potentially important air pollution source. VOC transport from residential attics to outdoor air is generally missing from emission inventories. In this study, attic VOC concentrations and emissions were assessed in a normally-occupied single-family residence in Oakland, California over 10 weeks during autumn 2021. A proton-transfer-reaction time-offlight mass spectrometer was utilized to sequentially measure VOC concentrations in the attic, the living space, and outdoors at a rate of twice per hour. Over 200 VOCs were detected at concentrations averaging above five parts per trillion, including many known to be emitted from building materials and wood decomposition. Inert tracer gases were continuously released at known rates into the attic, living zone, and basement to characterize air change rates and interzonal flows. Combining the measurements in a material-balance model, we determine time-resolved and speciated VOC emission factors into the attic and to outdoors from the attic. We find that furfural is a key indicator species and that large diurnal temperature changes in the attic significantly influence VOC emissions from the attic to outdoors.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: ■ Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Volatile Organic Compound Composition and Emissions in a Residential Attic

Molinier,

Arata,

Lunderberg

et al. 2024

ACS EST Air

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…VC generally is not present in outdoor air or indoor air at measurable levels. For example, Rago et al (2021) did not detect VC in 25 school buildings and 61 office buildings across the United States, with detection limits ranging from 0.051 to 0.175 µg/m. 3 In the Urban Air Toxics Monitoring Program, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA, 2018) detected VC above the method detection limit in only 10% of 2934 samples, with an arithmetic mean of 0.021 ppbv (0.054 µg/m 3 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fate & transport of vinyl chloride in soil vapor

Eklund¹,

Rago²,

Plantz³

et al. 2022

Remediation Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vinyl chloride (VC) is a common risk driver in vapor intrusion (VI) studies. At many sites, initial screening shows potential indoor air impacts for VC at unacceptable levels. During follow-up site characterization, however, the VI pathway for VC is rarely if ever found to be complete. This paper sets forth a conceptual model for understanding these results and summarizes data from several field sites to illustrate the concepts. VC can be formed under anaerobic conditions via reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethylene or trichloroethylene. The ultimate fate of any VC that is produced depends on the amount of available oxygen. If sufficient oxygen is available, VC will readily undergo aerobic biodegradation. Data are presented for multiple field sites to illustrate the fate and transport of VC. The sites are drawn from various regions of the United States and cover a range of conditions. At these sites, VC was detected at relatively high concentrations in groundwater. It may also have been detected in deeper soil gas, but generally was fully attenuated before reaching shallow soil depths. Indoor air results were consistently nondetect. The behavior is also discussed for sites with very shallow groundwater, where VC was found in some subslab soil gas samples but not in the overlying indoor air.

show abstract

Fate and Transport of Chloroform in VI Evaluations

Eklund,

Rago

2024

Remediation Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Chloroform is frequently detected in indoor air in vapor intrusion (VI) studies. At many sites, initial screening shows potential indoor air impacts for chloroform at unacceptable levels. During follow‐up site characterization, however, the VI pathway for chloroform is rarely found to be the primary source of chloroform in indoor air. This paper sets forth a conceptual model for understanding these results and summarizes data from 10 field sites from various US Environmental Protection Agency regions to illustrate the concepts. Chloroform is a volatile organic compound (VOC) that is categorized as being a trihalomethane. It is well documented that it can be formed when chlorine is used to disinfect water. Chloroform also may be emitted directly into indoor air from treated water and may be formed and/or emitted from various cleaning products. The typical indoor air background concentration in residential buildings is approximately 0.5–1 µg/m3, but results will vary, and values of 10 µg/m3 or higher have been measured. The indoor air background concentrations presented in the literature are well above typical screening level concentrations for residential buildings. Field data are presented that demonstrate that the attenuation factor for chloroform often differs widely from attenuation factors of other VOCs that may pose a potential risk via the VI pathway.

show abstract

Indoor Air Background Levels of Volatile Organic Compounds and Air‐Phase Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Office Buildings and Schools

Cited by 9 publications

References 33 publications

Volatile Organic Compound Composition and Emissions in a Residential Attic

Volatile Organic Compound Composition and Emissions in a Residential Attic

Fate & transport of vinyl chloride in soil vapor

Fate and Transport of Chloroform in VI Evaluations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About