| Keywords |
Indoor environmental pollutants; Volatile organic compound; Carbonyl compound; New-apartment; Bake-out |
| Abstract |
Numerous volatile organic compounds are generated in new apartments. Only six volatile substances are regulated under the Indoor Air Quality Management Act for new apartments. Various other substances are not regulated despite their potential health risks. We investigated 43 types of volatile organic compounds and 7 types of carbonyl compounds which are representative indoor environmental pollutants in new apartments, and 21 types of pollutants were detected. Of the 21 types detected, 91.6 percent accounted for the majority of the 7 species with high concentrations. These seven typical indoor pollutants include regulators Toluene, Formaldehyde, Ethyl-benzene, Xylene, and Styrene, as well as unregulated substances Acetone and Acetaldehyde. The correlation analysis among seven volatile organic compounds was investigated. For the correlation of seven species, the strongest positive correlation between Ethyl-benzene and Styrene r=.933 (p=.001) appeared, and a coefficient of determination(r) between other species was greater than 0.7. This correlation coefficient values indicated that several volatile organic compounds released from the same pollutant sources. Additionally the concentration reduction rate of volatile organic compounds was measured to examine the Bakeout effect. The reduction rate scored as Toluene 85.5%, Xylene 84.7%, Ethyl-benzene 84.4%, Styrene 76.8%, Acetone 73.4%, Acetaldehyde 71.0%, and Formaldehyde 70.9% respectively. |