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A numerical model predicting indoor volatile organic compound Volatile Organic Compounds emissions from multiple building materials

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Abstract

There have been many studies on the model of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from individual dry building material and have been validated in the chamber. Actually, VOC emitted from multiple dry building materials simultaneously indoor. The concentration of VOC indoor increases and will inhibit the VOC emission of dry building materials indoor. This paper developed a new model predicting indoor VOC concentrations caused by simultaneous emissions from multiple dry building materials, with a consideration of impact from dynamic VOC concentrations on the emission rate. The model has been used to predict the VOC emissions from a combination of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and consolidated compound floor (CCF) simultaneously. The study demonstrated a good prediction performance of the newly proposed model, against field experimental data. The study also showed that when multiple dry building materials emit pollutants in a common space, a mutual inhibition effect could be observed. Furthermore, when multiple dry building materials emit VOC simultaneously, the change of VOC concentrations in the air followed the trends of VOC emissions from building materials with higher initial concentration (C0), diffusion coefficient (Dm), and the partition coefficient (Kma).

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [grant number 2017YFC0702700]; The 111 Project [grant number B13041]; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Project NO.2018CDJDCH0015].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint International Research Laboratory of Green Buildings and Built Environments (Ministry of Education), Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Miao Guo, Wei Yu, Sheng Zhang & Han Wang

  2. National Centre for International Research of Low-carbon and Green Buildings (Ministry of Science and Technology), Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Miao Guo, Wei Yu, Sheng Zhang & Han Wang

  3. School of Urban Construction and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University Campus B, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Wei Yu

  4. Shenzhen Municipal Design & Research Institute Co.,Ltd., Shenzhen, China

    Sheng Zhang

  5. The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, University College London, London, WC1E 7HB, UK

    Shen Wei

Authors
  1. Miao Guo
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  2. Wei Yu
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  3. Sheng Zhang
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  4. Han Wang
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  5. Shen Wei
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wei Yu.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Responsible editor: Marcus Schulz

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Highlights

• The model can predict VOC concentration indoor.

• The mutual inhibition effect can be reflected.

• The influence of three key parameters on indoor concentration of VOC is analyzed.

• Can therefore reduce the health risks of people exposed to VOC.

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Guo, M., Yu, W., Zhang, S. et al. A numerical model predicting indoor volatile organic compound Volatile Organic Compounds emissions from multiple building materials. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 587–596 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06890-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06890-5

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