Abstract
ABSTRACT PM2.5, formaldehyde, and 8 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were observed in 6 newly decorated apartment units to evaluate the effects of the decorating process on the indoor air quality in Xi’an, China. The comparison of indoor and outdoor formaldehyde and VOCs concentrations showed that the outdoor PM2.5 concentration exceeded the indoor one during the monitoring process, whereas the indoor formaldehyde and VOCs concentrations exceeded the outdoor ones. The levels of formaldehyde and VOCs in different rooms were investigated, and the concentrations in the bedroom were found to be the highest. Furthermore, the formaldehyde and VOCs concentrations were measured in 200 other rooms decorated within a 2-year period in Xi’an, and the results indicated that wallpapering, wooden flooring, and furniture were the major decorating processes emitting these compounds. In addition, a health risk assessment of the monitored formaldehyde and VOCs in the rooms 1 year after decorating showed that benzene posed the greatest health risk among the assessed VOCs.
Highlights
Indoor air quality is considered to be a major environmental issue given that indoor air pollution has significant detrimental health effects (Batterman et al, 2012a; Verriele et al, 2016; Zorpas and Skouroupatis, 2016)
The formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentrations were measured in 200 other rooms decorated within a 2-year period in Xi’an, and the results indicated that wallpapering, wooden flooring, and furniture were the major decorating processes emitting these compounds
The indoor formaldehyde and VOCs concentrations exceeded the outdoor concentrations significantly, which indicated that formaldehyde and VOCs evaporated primarily from many decorating materials, furniture, and other household products
Summary
Indoor air quality is considered to be a major environmental issue given that indoor air pollution has significant detrimental health effects (Batterman et al, 2012a; Verriele et al, 2016; Zorpas and Skouroupatis, 2016). Among the indoor air pollutants, formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been recognized as detrimental constituents because of human health effects, including their non-cancer or cancer risks. The dominant non-cancer chronic effects of formaldehyde and VOCs are headache, cough, nausea, severe liver poisoning, asthma and other respiratory effects (Rumchev et al, 2007; Dai et al, 2017), whereas cancer affects mainly include the brain, liver, lung, blood (leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma), kidney, and biliary tract cancers (WHO, 2000; He et al, 2015). Fine particulate matter (PM) comprises a large group of indoor air compounds, which mainly harm the respiratory and cardiovascular systems (Batterman et al, 2012b; Mehta et al, 2013; Petkova et al, 2013; Song et al, 2015; Dickerson et al, 2017; Tong et al, 2018)
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