Variable volume loading method: a convenient and rapid method for measuring the initial emittable concentration and partition coefficient of formaldehyde and other aldehydes in building materials.

The initial emittable formaldehyde and VOC concentration in building materials (C(0)) is a key parameter for characterizing and classifying these materials. Various methods have been developed to measure this parameter, but these generally require a long test time. In this paper we develop a convenient and rapid method, the variable volume loading (VVL) method, to simultaneously measure C(0) and the material/air partition coefficient (K). This method has the following features: (a) it requires a relatively short experimental time (less than 24 h for the cases studied); and (b) is convenient for routine measurement. Using this method, we determined C(0) and K of formaldehyde, propanal and hexanal in one kind of medium density fiberboard, and repeated experiments were performed to reduce measurement error. In addition, an extended-C-history method is proposed to determine the diffusion coefficient and the convective mass transfer coefficient. The VVL method is validated by comparing model predicted results based on the determined parameters with experimental data. The determined C(0) of formaldehyde obtained via this method is less than 10% of the total concentration using the perforator method recommended by the Chinese National Standard, suggesting that the total concentration may not be appropriate to predict emission characteristics, nor for material classification.