Measurement reproducibility and Storage impact on VOC/SVOC Emission Rate from Decorative Materials

Building materials are the major sources of Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs and SVOCs) in indoor air. Measurements of emission rates of these compounds are likely to be influenced by variation in certain environmental factors resulting in intra-specimen variability. This study aims to (i) evaluate the reproducibility of measurements between specimens and (ii) evaluate the impact of storage on VOC and SVOC emissions from antifungal acrylic paint (applied on polyester-cellulose). For this purpose, 15 discs of tested materials (1.63 ± 0.04 g) were prepared. From these, the emissions rates (ER) of 5 samples were analyzed simultaneously during three measurement campaigns (October 2021, January 2022 and March 2022). Between each campaign, specimens were stored in the dark at ambient temperature (25 ± 4 °C) and relative humidity (50 ± 20 %). Measurements were performed using the field and laboratory emission cell (FLEC) and characterized by gas chromatography (TD-GC-MS/FID) and liquid chromatography (HPLC). Intra-specimen reproducibility was assessed by comparing 5 ER of different specimens collected simultaneously. The impact of storage was evaluated by comparing the average VOC/SVOC ER between each campaign. The results show, concerning the reproducibility of the measurements, that the first measurement campaign provides ER with high variability (10 - 36 %) compared to the second and third measurement campaigns, which show lower intra-specimen variability (5 - 24 % and 8 - 20 % respectively). However, weakly emitted compounds (ER < 10 μg m