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An experimental investigation on the indoor environmental conditions on diffusion coefficient of VOCs in building materials

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An experimental investigation on the indoor environmental conditions on diffusion coefficient of VOCs in building materials

Farajollahi, Yashar (2007) An experimental investigation on the indoor environmental conditions on diffusion coefficient of VOCs in building materials. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

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Abstract

After the energy crisis in 1973, efforts were made to design constructions more airtight to be energy efficient. Since then, sick building syndrome (SBS) has been reported more often as a result of poor indoor air quality (IAQ). Among the proposed strategies to improve IAQ, source control is determined to be the most effective approach. Because of their large surface areas permanently exposed to the indoor environment, building materials are suspected of playing an important role in determining IAQ. Source-specific control, however, requires adequate knowledge about the extent of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions of materials so that in decision-making stages, only products with lower emission rates will be chosen and installed. Hence, knowing the characteristics of building materials (diffusion and partition coefficients) is necessary. Moreover, these data are needed as input parameters for VOC emission simulations, which presently suffer from the lack of a database of emission characteristics of materials. Therefore, this study has characterize building materials by measuring their diffusion coefficients ( D ) in different environmental conditions. Based on the twin-chamber method, an experimental set-up was developed to determine the D of five VOCs (octane, isopropanol, cyclo hexane, ethyl acetate, and hexane) for ceiling tile as the building material. By using Fick's law, D was calculated and linked to physicochemical properties of VOCs. The method used also allowed us to investigate the influence of temperature, humidity, and the mixture of VOCs on D. Based on obtained results, a systematic parametric study was conducted to quantify the importance of investigated factors. It was found that among different physicochemical properties, the D is positively related to vapor pressure. Additionally, no significant difference was observed between the D of a single VOC and that of a mixture of VOCs. Also, it was observed that temperature and humidity (in the range of a typical indoor environment) had a minor effect on the measured D

Divisions:Concordia University > Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science > Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Farajollahi, Yashar
Pagination:xv, 101 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A. Sc.
Program:Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Date:2007
Thesis Supervisor(s):Chen, Zhi
Identification Number:LE 3 C66B85M 2007 F37
ID Code:975856
Deposited By: Concordia University Library
Deposited On:22 Jan 2013 16:16
Last Modified:13 Jul 2020 20:08
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