Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions from a Personal Care Polymer-Based Item: Simulation of the Inhalation Exposure Scenario Indoors under Actual Conditions of Use

Jolanda Palmisani,Alessia Di Gilio,Maria Tutino,Ezia Cisternino,Gianluigi De Gennaro

doi:10.3390/su12072577

Jolanda Palmisani, Alessia Di Gilio + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072577

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Abstract

Polymer-based items may release Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and odors indoors, contributing to the overall VOC inhalation exposure for end users and building occupants. The main objective of the present study is the evaluation of short-term inhalation exposure to VOCs due to the use of a personal care polymer-based item, namely, one of three electric heating bags, through a strategic methodological approach and the simulation of a ‘near-to-real’ exposure scenario. Seventy two-hour test chamber experiments were first performed to characterize VOC emissions with the items on ‘not-heating mode’ and to derive related emission rates. The polyester bag was revealed to be responsible for the highest emissions both in terms of total VOC and naphthalene emissions (437 and 360 µg/m3, respectively), compared with the other two bags under investigation. Complementary investigations on ‘heating mode’ and the simulation of the exposure scenario inside a 30 m3 reference room allowed us to highlight that the use of the polyester bag in the first life-cycle period could determine a naphthalene concentration (42 µg/m3) higher than the reference Lowest Concentration of Interest (LCI) value (10 µg/m3) reported in European evaluation schemes. The present study proposes a strategic methodological approach highlighting the need for the simulation of a realistic scenario when potential hazards for human health need to be assessed.

Highlights

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions from indoor materials and consumer products have become a subject of concern among indoor air scientists [1,2,3,4]
VOCs reported in Table 2 represent the pattern of gaseous pollutants identified and quantified by test chamber experiments performed under controlled conditions and with the electric bags on ‘not-heating mode’
VOC emission data are expressed as emission rates (ERs) and chamber air concentrations, with the latter reported as an average value of duplicate measurements corrected for chamber background

Summary

Introduction

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions from indoor materials and consumer products have become a subject of concern among indoor air scientists [1,2,3,4]. It is important to point out that VOC emission characteristics, in terms of the pattern of generated compounds and extent of the emission, may significantly vary during product/item use, if the use involves combustion and/or heating, resulting in exposure scenarios being substantially different [25]. This typology of indoor sources is characterized by short-term emission patterns during the actual use and requires a realistic scenario to be simulated in the test emission chamber. The experimental activity involved test emission chamber and dynamic head-space investigations on three different heating bags, commercially available at the moment of the study and responsible for odor annoyance at ambient temperature

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