Development of a physics-based model for analyzing formaldehyde emissions from building material under coupling effects of temperature and humidity

Abstract

Material emission characteristics constitute significant information for indoor formaldehyde control, exposure estimation, and health risk assessment. Based on observations over 29 months in a designed experimental room, we identified and reported seasonal variations in formaldehyde emitted by a medium-density fiberboard (MDF) in a previously published paper. Temperature and absolute humidity (AH) were confirmed to prominently contribute to the variations. In the current study, we further developed a physics-based model to analyze the formaldehyde emissions of the MDF under the coupling effects of temperature and AH. Indoor formaldehyde concentration and emission rate were solved numerically according to the emission history and key emission parameters. The key parameters at different temperatures and AH conditions were obtained independently through short-term (80 h) emission tests using an environmental chamber. The model predicted that indoor formaldehyde concentration varied with cyclical seasonal features, which is consistent with field observations. The slope of the regression line between the simulated and measured concentrations was 0.83 with a correlation coefficient of 0.94, indicating good quantitative consistency between the simulations and the long-term data. The model demonstrated potential for application in predicting long-term formaldehyde emissions in buildings under varying environmental conditions.