VOC emissions from a LIFE reference: small chamber tests and factorial studies

Published

June 28, 2012

Author(s)

Wenjuan Wei, Sylvester M. Greer, Cynthia H. Reed, Andrew K. Persily, Yinping Zhang

Abstract

A liquid-inner tube diffusion-film-emission (LIFE) reference was developed to quickly evaluate the performance of a chamber system for furniture/building material VOC emission tests. The reference has a constant emission rate determined by an analytical balance at typical temperature and relative humidity conditions, and is able to provide predictable concentrations in a chamber testing system. A 51 L stainless steel chamber was used to test the LIFE reference’s performance at an air temperature of 23 °C with 50 % RH. Factorial studies of the LIFE reference’s emission under various temperatures (10 °C, 23 °C and 30 °C) and relative humidities (33 %, 50 % and 70 %) showed that the emission rate is sensitive to the chamber environment. A numerical regression equation was developed to describe the impact of chamber temperature, relative humidity and their interaction on the reference’s emission, with the difference between prediction and testing results of less than 3 % at 23 °C and 30 °C conditions.

Citation

Building and Environment

Volume

57

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

VOC emission, reference material, chamber, furniture, indoor air quality (IAQ)

Citation

Wei, W. , Greer, S. , Reed, C. , Persily, A. and Zhang, Y. (2012), VOC emissions from a LIFE reference: small chamber tests and factorial studies, Building and Environment, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=910744 (Accessed October 10, 2025)