Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Polyurethane Mattresses under Variable Environmental Conditions

Abstract

Sleeping microenvironment (SME), is characterized by higher temperature, humidity, and CO2 concentration. Emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in SME is important considering the long duration people spend there with high proximity between their respiration inlets and potential emission sources, such as bedding material. This study concentrates on the influence of SME conditions on VOC emissions from polyurethane mattresses, and provides first approximation for inhalation exposure during sleep, based on measured emissions. Eight types of polyurethane mattresses were tested in a parallel continues-flow chamber system, to compare between VOC emission under different temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 concentrations. Contribution of mattress covers to emission fluxes was also examined. Eighteen VOCs were quantified with fluxes ranging from 10–4 to 10–1 mg/(h·m–2). Under sleeping conditions VOC emissions increased significantly. Elevated heat seems to be the major contributor to the enhanced emissions, compared to elevated relative humidity and CO2 concentration. Exposure levels estimated for sleeping child/infant indicate that SME can be a significant contributor to VOC exposure, yielding concerning exposure levels for few compounds. Furthermore, the present study demonstrates the strong dependency of sleeping person exposure on air exchange rate between his breathing zone and bedroom air (λBZ).

Synthetic Phenolic Antioxidants: A Review of Environmental Occurrence, Fate, Human Exposure, and Toxicity

“…For example, polyurethane mattresses have been reported to be an important source of BHT to indoor environments. 41 SPAs have been ubiquitously detected in various indoor environments (Figure 2 and Supporting Information Table S2). Wang indoor dust from 12 countries (China, Colombia, Greece, India, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Romania, the United States, and Vietnam).…”

“…Commercial products containing SPAs may act as sources for indoor dust. For example, polyurethane mattresses have been reported to be an important source of BHT to indoor environments . SPAs have been ubiquitously detected in various indoor environments (Figure and Supporting Information Table S2).…”

Temperature and indoor environments

“…Similar studies on the temperature-dependent determination of the emission rate of volatile organic compounds have been published for a number of other materials. [383][384][385][386][387][388] 389 for example investigated the temperaturedependent emission behavior of multilayer building materials for floor heating systems with a focus on primers, waterproofing products, and adhesives for wood and ceramic floors. A significant increase in total VOC emissions (often by a factor of 2-3) after the temperature was increased from 23°C to 33°C was observed.…”

Terminal Hydrophilicity-Induced Dispersion of Cationic Waterborne Polyurethane from CO2-Based Polyol

“…Reducing the emission of volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants to the atmosphere is a very important concern in the adhesive and coating industry, which is also an interesting topic in polymer science. − One of such tendencies is replacing solvent-based polyurethane by waterborne polyurethane (WPU). WPU is a high solid content aqueous dispersion due to efficient dispersibility of the hydrophilic group (i.e., internal emulsifier) which is deliberately introduced into a hydrophobic polyurethane chain. , Currently, anionic waterborne polyurethanes (AWPUs) are dominating in industry, − while cationic waterborne polyurethanes (CWPUs) are sparsely found in the commercial list and receive much less research .…”