A comprehensive VOC emission database for commonly used building materials

A material emission database was developed for 48 building materials based on ASTM testmethods. The database consists of model coefficients for the five to six most abundant volatileorganic compounds (VOCs) emitted from each building material. A power-law model wasused to describe the emissions from dry materials including particleboard, plywood, orientedstrand board (OSB), solid wood, gypsum wallboard, acoustic ceiling tile, vinyl flooring,underpad and carpet. The VOC emissions from wet materials were divided into three temporalregions with separate emission models including a vapour pressure and boundary layer model,an exponential decay model and a power-law model. The wet materials include wood stain,polyurethane varnish, adhesive, caulking sealant, floor wax and paint. Since the database islinked to a single-zone indoor air quality simulation program, it can be used to explore tradeoffsbetween material selection and ventilation strategies.