Near Real-Time Monitoring of Formaldehyde in a Low-Energy School Building

The emergence of new super-insulated buildings to reduce energy consumption places the quality of indoor air at the center of the debate. Among the indoor air pollutants, aldehydes are often present, and formaldehyde is of major interest regarding its multiple sources and its health impact. Therefor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmosphere 2019-12, Vol.10 (12), p.763
Main Authors: Trocquet, Claire, Bernhardt, Pierre, Guglielmino, Maud, Malandain, Isabelle, Liaud, Céline, Englaro, Stéphanette, Le Calvé, Stéphane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Aldehydes
Analytical chemistry
Analytical methods
Aqueous solutions
Buildings
Chemical Sciences
Energy consumption
Environmental Engineering
Environmental Sciences
Formaldehyde
Indoor air
Indoor air pollution
Indoor air quality
Indoor environments
Investigations
Laboratories
Mechanical ventilation
Monitoring
Ocean, Atmosphere
Pollutants
Public buildings
Reagents
Real time
School buildings
Sciences of the Universe
Tubes
Ventilation
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Summary:The emergence of new super-insulated buildings to reduce energy consumption places the quality of indoor air at the center of the debate. Among the indoor air pollutants, aldehydes are often present, and formaldehyde is of major interest regarding its multiple sources and its health impact. Therefore, French regulations expect to reduce formaldehyde concentrations below 10 μg m−3 in public buildings by 2023. Formaldehyde and other aldehydes were measured for two weeks during an intensive field campaign conducted in a school recently built and equipped with programmable dual-flow ventilation. Aldehydes were monitored with the ISO 16000-3 reference method based on sampling with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) tubes while formaldehyde concentration was continuously measured by using a sensitive near real-time formaldehyde microanalyzer with a detection limit of 1 µg m−3. Formaldehyde was the major aldehyde. Its concentrations varied in the range of 2–25 µg m−3 and decreased by half when mechanical ventilation was ON, while the other ones were always below 5 µg m−3. In addition, an excellent agreement was observed between the different analytical techniques deployed to quantify formaldehyde levels. The microanalyzer was able to measure fast variations of formaldehyde concentration in the studied room, according to the building's ventilation periods.
ISSN:2073-4433
2073-4433
DOI:10.3390/atmos10120763