Measurements of VOCs emission rate from building materials during bakeout with passive sampling methods

Bake-out of buildings is believed to have a potential to reduce indoor air pollution caused byVOCs and formaldehyde emitted from building materials although controversial discussionshave been suggested. To clarify the effectiveness of bake-out, in this study, the variation ofVOCs and formaldehyde emission rate from building material were investigated in residentialhousing units with passive sampling methods. For about a month, measurements of emissionrate are carried out on various building materials such as wood based materials and paperbased materials installed in real buildings at which bake-out was conducted. According to theresults, the toluene emission rate from wood based materials clearly decreased with onlyventilated conditions during bake-out. However, the toluene emission rate from wall paperdecreased regardless to the ventilation condition. Compared to toluene emission rate, wecouldnt observe a clear reduction of formaldehyde emission rate from most of buildingmaterials.