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Emission Testing Standards and Methods

The document discusses emission testing principles, focusing on various standards and regulations in Europe and the USA for different materials. It outlines the significance of test results, intended use scenarios, and the calculations necessary for determining emission rates and air concentrations. Additionally, it highlights the differences between test chamber conditions and real room environments, emphasizing the importance of accurate modeling for effective emission assessments.

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15 views8 pages

Emission Testing Standards and Methods

The document discusses emission testing principles, focusing on various standards and regulations in Europe and the USA for different materials. It outlines the significance of test results, intended use scenarios, and the calculations necessary for determining emission rates and air concentrations. Additionally, it highlights the differences between test chamber conditions and real room environments, emphasizing the importance of accurate modeling for effective emission assessments.

Uploaded by

pankazspam
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Emission Testing

-
Some principles

Reinhard Oppl, Eurofins Product Testing

1
Experience with emission testing

„ Europe:
„ Formaldehyde E1 (wood-based panels)
„ DIBt (floor coverings)
„ Blue Angel (furniture, floorings, adhesives, sealants, …)
„ M1 (construction products, cleaners)
„ GUT (textile floorings)
„ EMICODE (adhesives, mortars, sealants, floor coatings)
„ France (solid construction products)
„ Denmark (construction products, furniture)
„ CertiPUR (PUR foam for furniture)

„ USA:
„ Section 1350 / LEED / CHPS (construction products, furniture)
„ FloorScore / CRI (textile / resilient floorings, adhesives)
„ BIFMA (office furniture)
„ Greenguard (construction products, furniture)

2
Emission over Time

„ Evaluation, e.g. by emissions test, standard schedule:


„ after 3 days (early exposure, renovation) and
„ after 28 days (long-term exposure)
(or 3 days, GUT, or 10 days, EMICODE,
or 7 days, BIFMA, or 14 days, Section 1350 / LEED / CRI)
„ Equilibrium concentration: only relevant for urea-formaldehyde
binders

Emissions

Example of a decay curve VOC


Days
3
Emission test and reality

„ Test chamber and real room


„ Adsorption on walls reduces effective emission in real room
„ Other sources will contribute to real room air quality
„ What you get is the emission rate,
and the maximum contribution of emitting material
to room air concentration

„ Ageing - how to be considered?


(airing out and oxidation processes during storage, transport,
construction process, use life cycle)

„ Coverage - how to be considered?


(e.g. adhesive by carpet, or wall by paint)

4
Significance of test result

„ What you get from chamber testing is:


Chamber air concentration at given time mg/m³,
then calculate from that:
„ Emission rate hour mg/h
„ Specific emission rate (emission factor)
„ per area mg/m²h
„ or per mass, per device, per unit
„ Contribution to air concentration mg/m³
in reference room or in real room (source strength)
after a specified time

5
Intended use and exposure scenario

„ Reference room - not a test room, but just a model


„ In Europe:
„ Floor area 7 or 12 m², Height 2.5 m
„ 1 window, 1 door
„ From that calculate wall area, sealant area 0.2 m²
„ From that calculate loading factors (m²/m³)
„ 1/2 air exchange per hour
(1/h in EN 717-1, 0,6/h - 0,9/h in USA),
„ 23 °C (Asia: 25°C/28°C; 25°C for CARB regulation)
„ 50% relative humidity (45% in EN 717-1)

„ Testing shall simulate that room more or less


„ Some deviation possible, if result is re-calculated to reference
conditions
„ … as long as air velocity over test specimen surface is
sufficient for transfer of emitted VOC into surrounding air
„ … and no surface drying occurs during testing

6
Correlations
„ Specific emission rate, e.g. mg/(m² x h) :
„ is the key parameter as it allows all other calculations
„ Instead of area specific emission rate as here,
also mass specific, volume specific or unit specific emission rate may be used
„ Reference room air concentration (mg/m³):
Can be re-calculated from whatever test chamber (within certain limits)
„ from emission rate mg/(m² x h), or
„ with loading factor m²/m³ and with ventilation rate per h
„ even if these in test chamber differ from reference room
„ Real or other room air concentration (mg/m³) :
Can be re-calculated freely
„ from emission rate mg/(m² x h), or
„ with reference room air concentration (mg/m³)
„ with loading factor m²/m³ and with ventilation rate per h

7
Calculations

„ Test chamber air concentration at given time


„ CCH = mg/m³ = µg on sampling tube / litres air sampling volume
„ Emission rate
„ ER = mg/h = CCH (mg/m³) x chamber volume (m³) x air exchange (/h)
„ Area specific emission rate or emission factor
„ SERa = mg/(m²xh) = ER (mg/h) / emitting surface (m²)
„ Reference room air concentration - used as reference
„ CMR mg/m³ = SERa mg/(m²xh) x loading factor L (m²/m³) / air exchange rate (/h)
„ Other room air concentration - different loading factor L (m²/m³) in room
„ COR-L mg/m³ = SERa mg/(m²xh) x other loading Lx (m²/m³) / air exchange rate (/h)
„ Other room air concentration - different air change rate n (1/h) in room
„ COR-V mg/m³ = SERa mg/(m²xh) x loading factor L (m²/m³) / other air exchange (/h)
„ Instead of area specific emission rate,
also mass specific, volume specific or unit specific emission rate may be used

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