Benzene/Formaldehyde VOC Monitoring Testing

Benzene is an aromatic hydrocarbon in which the six carbon atoms are arranged in a ring, with all carbon bonds equal and intermediate in length between single and double bonds. Under standard laboratory conditions, benzene is a colorless and highly flammable liquid with a sweet smell. Benzene is a known carcinogen and has various toxic effects on humans.

With the rapid development of decoration industry, volatile organic contaminants such as benzene are being used more and more frequently. Benzene can be found in environmental tobacco smoke, stored fuels, and exhaust from cars. The usage of benzene/xylene in automobile exhaust, furniture, and during its use as a solvent, is causing plenty of benzene related chemicals quickly evaporate into the air due to their volatile nature. It is frequently used to make other chemicals in the production of plastics, resins, and synthetic fibers. The vapor of benzene is heavier than air allowing it to sink into low-lying areas. Benzene has also been known to contaminate food and water and if digested can lead to vomiting, dizziness, sleepiness, rapid heartbeat, and at high levels, even death may occur. People are usually exposed to benzene/ xylene by breathing it in contaminated air.

EPA regulates VOCs in the air, water, and land. The standard EPA analytical methods for testing benzene in air are as follows:

TO-1 Gas chromatographic mass spectrometry using Tenax GC sampling and thermal desorption technology.

TO-2 Sampling with carbon molecular sieve, gas chromatography mass spectrometry.

TO-17 Sampling with solid filler adsorption tubes, gas chromatography mass spectrometry.

TO-14A The tank sample was used to determine the gas chromatographic method.

TO-15 Tank sampling, gas chromatography mass spectrometry

On the other hand, formaldehyde (HCHO) is a colorless, pungent-smelling gas, and one of the most common VOCs found indoors and which is an important chemical widely used by industry to manufacture building materials and numerous household products. It is also a by-product of combustion and certain other natural processes and thus, may be present in substantial concentrations both indoors and outdoors. Formaldehyde, by itself or in combination with other chemicals, serves a number of purposes in manufactured products such as urea-formaldehyde, which is a component of glues and adhesives, and can also be used as preservative in some paints and coating products.

Some of the attributes of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin include high tensile strength, flexural modulus, and heat distortion temperature, low water absorption, mold shrinkage, high surface hardness, and volume resistance. UF copolymeric resins are present in many building materials such as wood adhesives which are used in the manufacture of pressed wood products including particle board, medium-density fiber board (MDF), plywood, finish coatings (acid-cured), textile treatments, as well as in the production of UF foam insulation (UFFI). However, most people are unaware that formaldehyde is given off by materials other than UFFI. Certain types of pressed wood products (composition board—e.g., MDF, paneling, etc.), carpeting, and other material can be formaldehyde sources. Many of these products use a UF-based resin as an adhesive. Some of these materials will continue to give off formaldehyde much longer than UFFI. Like the majority of VOCs, formaldehyde levels will decrease substantially with time and/or with increased ventilation.

In order to analyze formaldehyde, a kind of simplest aldehyde closely related to human health from both exogenous and endogenous environments, many methods have been developed and employed with different techniques and instruments. Air sampling of formaldehyde is accomplished using EPA Method TO-11A. It can be sampled using sorbent tubes or a diffusive sampler (passive badge sampler).

Alfa Chemistry is professional in air quality analysis and we can provide accurate and reliable tests results within the time constraint. We have conducted ambient air analysis, vapor intrusion analysis, indoor air quality analysis and mold, asbestos, radon analysis. Please feel free to contact us if you have any concern or would like us to perform any air quality testing. Check our instruments list to see our capabilities.

Reference

• Su T., He R. (2017) Methods in Determination of Formaldehyde. In: Formaldehyde and Cognition. Springer, Dordrecht.