Abstract
Emission rates of diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) from building materials, such as vinyl floorings and wall paper, determined using a passive flux sampler (PFS) were constant over the week-long measurement period. Emission rates for vinyl floorings and wallpaper were linearly correlated to the inverse of diffusion distance, which corresponds to the internal depth of the PFS. Surface-air DEHP concentrations (y0) were estimated as 1.3–2.3 μg/m3 for materials having a boundary layer molecular diffusion rate-limiting step. The partition coefficient (Kmaterial-air) was estimated as 3.3–7.5 × 1010 for these materials. Additionally, emission rates of DEHP from same building materials determined using a micro-chamber were 4.5–6.1 μg/m2/h. Mass transfer coefficients in the micro-chamber (hm) were estimated by comparing the results using the PFS and micro-chamber, and these were 1.1–1.2 × 10−3 and 8.1 × 10−4 m/s for vinyl floorings (smooth surface) and wallpaper (rough surface), respectively. The thickness of boundary layer on the surface of building materials in the micro-chamber were estimated to be 2.5–2.6 and 3.7 mm for vinyl floorings and wallpaper, respectively.
Highlights
Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is widely used as a plasticizer in many plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC); as a consequence, DEHP can be found in numerous consumer products such as vinyl flooring, wallpaper, vehicle interiors, and toys [1]
A schematic illustrating the mechanism of passive flux sampler (PFS) sampling to obtain the emission flux from emission source is shown in Fig 2(C) and S2 Fig. In an actual indoor environment or in a micro-chamber, chemicals diffuse from the inside to the surface of the material, volatilize/ desorb at the surface of material, diffuse in the gas-phase boundary layer from the surface of the material to bulk indoor/in-chamber air, and mix in the bulk indoor/in-chamber air (Fig 2 (C))
It was confirmed that the emission rate from these building materials remained constant at least during the 7-day sampling periods employed in this study
Summary
Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is widely used as a plasticizer in many plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC); as a consequence, DEHP can be found in numerous consumer products such as vinyl flooring, wallpaper, vehicle interiors, and toys [1]. Since DEHP molecules are not chemically bound to the PVC [2], and since the vapor pressure of DEHP is low, DEHP is slowly emitted from PVC products to the surrounding environment [3] and often detected in indoor environments [4, 5]. In terms of human toxicity, DEHP is known to induce some adverse health effects such as reproductive toxicity [6, 7], asthma, and allergies [8, 9]. The behaviors of DEHP in an indoor environment are shown in Fig 1 and S1 Fig. Owing to its low vapor pressure, DEHP, once emitted into an indoor environment, is adsorbed.
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