ISO/TC 146/SC 6/WG 3 - Determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air

This document specifies a general laboratory test method for the determination of the area specific emission rate of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from samples of newly produced building products or furnishing under defined climate conditions. The method can also, in principle, be applied to samples of aged products. The emission data obtained can be used to calculate concentrations in a model room (see Table B.1). This document is applicable to various emission test chambers used for the determination of the emission of VOCs from building products or furnishing. This document is also applicable to samples of wood-based panels and other building products, in order to determine the emission rate of formaldehyde. NOTE In principle, this document can be applied to the study of any gas phase emissions from samples of building products and furnishing.

This document specifies the sampling procedures, transport conditions, storage and substrate used that can affect emissions of volatile organic compounds for three types of building products or furnishing: solid, liquid and combined. For individual products, the preparation of a test specimen for each type is specified.

This document specifies a method for determination of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in indoor air and in air sampled for the determination of the emission from products or materials used in indoor environments (according to ISO 16000‑1) using test chambers and test cells. The method uses sorbent sampling tubes with subsequent thermal desorption (TD) and gas chromatographic (GC) analysis employing a capillary column and a mass spectrometric (MS) detector with or without an additional flame ionisation detector (FID)[13]. The method is applicable to the measurement of most GC-compatible vapour-phase organic compounds at concentrations ranging from micrograms per cubic metre to several milligrams per cubic metre. Many very volatile organic compounds (VVOC) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) can be analysed depending on the sorbents used.