Toluene

The means for keeping the indoor relative humidity (RH) and pollutant concentration below a threshold level of interests are necessary and essential to improving building performance in terms of indoor air quality (IAQ), energy performance and durability of building materials. In this paper, the similarity between the moisture and VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) transport models is applied to study the effect of toluene (a typical VOC) and moisture buffering capacities of a hemp concrete wall on indoor toluene concentration and RH.

Recently, many studies have focused on the adsorption of pollutants as a method for improving indoor air quality. In Korea, the Health-Friendly Housing Construction Standards specify requirements for the installation of pollutant-absorbing materials. It is recommended that at least 10% of the total area of the living room and bedroom walls be covered. However, current guidelines regarding the installation locations of the adsorption material are unclear.  

Decomposition of toluene in air was studied by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) on the one hand aswell as UV light as assistance to DBD on the other hand.Input energy to reaction chamber, flow rate of contaminated air, and concentration of toluene werestudied as parameters influencing on the decomposition rate of toluene by two methods.Increasing the input energy from 2.8 kV to 4.2 kV at flow rate 1 SLM was increased the decompositionrate of toluene from 3.5% to 10%.

Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) tests have been carried out for toluene adsorbed on the TiO2/ACFcatalyst in an environmental condition controlled chamber. TiO2/ACF catalyst was made andcharacterized by N2 adsorption isotherm for pore structure and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) formorphology respectively.

Personal exposure to total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), benzene and toluene of 100 Milan office workers was assessed through personal air monitoring at home, in the office, and during commuting. Biological monitoring was performed by measuring blood benzene and toluene concentrations together with urinary trans-trans-muconic acid ( t,t-MA) and cotinine at the end of the monitoring period. The geometric means of the total 24-h personal exposure were 514 μg/m3 for TVOCs, 21.2 μg/m3 for benzene and 35.2 μg/m3 for toluene.

The indoor-outdoor comparison of volatile organic compounds was made in 52 private homes in the City of Munich, Germany. The VOC concentrations were measured by trapping with activated charcoal tubes and analyzed by capillary GC. The infiltrated NO, was monitored in the indoor air. It can be concluded that the benzene concentration in the indoor air is controlled by the outdoor concentration for approximatively 30 % of the investigated cases.