Volatile organic emissions from adhesives with indoor applications

Abstract

Studies have shown that volatile organic compounds (VOC} emitted from building materials are a potentially important source of indoor air pollution.In this study, we investigated emissions of VOC from both solventand water-based adhesives.Adhesives were applied to an inert substrate and dried for at least a week.VOC were cryogenically trapped and identified by GC-MS or sorbent trapped, solvent extracted, and quantified by GC-FID.Among the compounds emitted by adhesives were toluene, styrene, and a variety of normal, branched, and cyclic alkanes.The measured emission rates ranged from below the limit of detection for some adhesives to a total alkane emission rate of over 700 ~g g-1 h-1 for a water-based adhe- sive.A simple, well-mixed tank model was used to assess the potential impacts of the adhesives studied and to demonstrate that adhesives can be significant sources of VOC.