SORPTIVE INTERACTIONS AMONG BUILDING MATERIALS AND THEIR RESULTANT IMPACT ON PERCEIVED INDOOR AIR QUALITY

摘要

This study was designed to investigate the impact of sorption processes on indoor air quality using human beings as measuring devices. The experiments were performed in four similar, adjacent, low polluting offices, where the pollution sources and the sorptive sinks were the actual room surfaces and the surfaces of the evaluated building materials (carpet, painted gypsum boards, and linoleum). An untrained panel assessed the air quality in the offices where the air was polluted either by individual building materials or by various combinations of two materials. In these experiments, the air polluted by two different building materials placed in the same room was perceived to be better than the air in a room polluted by the more polluting of the two materials. Presumably, the pollutants emitted from one material were sorbed on the surface of the other material and on the room surfaces, reducing the concentrations of the emitted sensory pollutants and affecting the perceived air quality. During the desorption period, after the strong pollution source was taken out of the room, more than three days of ventilation were required before the room air was perceived to be free of emissions from the polluting material.