The FLEC® has been validated and used in research for many years.
Below is a publication list of journal articles, abstracts, poster or oral presentations where the FLEC or CHEMATEC’s other products have been in focus.
If you have anything that can be added to the list, we encourage you to contact CHEMATEC.
2012 |
Marć, Mariusz; Zabiegała, Bożena; Namieśnik, Jacek Testing and sampling devices for monitoring volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in indoor air Journal Article In: TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, vol. 32, pp. 76 - 86, 2012, ISSN: 0165-9936. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Air quality, Building material, Direct thermal desorption, emission rate, Emission test chamber, Field and laboratory emission cell, Indoor air, Passive flux sampler, Sampling device, Volatile organic compound @article{MARC201276,Adults spend most of their time in enclosed spaces (e.g., apartment, office and public buildings). According to research conducted by scientists, air quality indoors is much worse than the ambient air quality outdoors. Hazardous chemicals found in air indoors can adversely affect the functioning of the human body and cause many respiratory and circulatory diseases. Harmful chemical compounds (mainly volatile organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds) in the indoor environment are present because they are emitted from building and construction materials, and indoor equipment. One way of determining the levels of emissions of harmful chemicals is to use emission test chambers (ETCs), which can optimize analytical parameters (e.g., temperature, humidity, loading factor of the test chamber and the air-exchange rate). This article reviews the literature on the analytical methodologies that are used for different types of ETC for estimating emissions of chemicals from building and construction materials and components of indoor equipment. |
2009 |
Shinohara, Naohide; Kai, Yuya; Mizukoshi, Atsushi; Fujii, Minoru; Kumagai, Kazukiyo; Okuizumi, Yumiko; Jona, Miki; Yanagisawa, Yukio On-site passive flux sampler measurement of emission rates of carbonyls and VOCs from multiple indoor sources Journal Article In: Building and Environment, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 859 - 863, 2009, ISSN: 0360-1323. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Air exchange rates, Boundary layer, Building material, Emission rates, Emission source, Flux, Formaldehyde, Toluene @article{SHINOHARA2009859,In indoor environments with high levels of air pollution, it is desirable to remove major sources of emissions to improve air quality. In order to identify the emission sources that contribute most to the concentrations of indoor air pollutants, we used passive flux samplers (PFSs) to measure emission rates of carbonyl compounds and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from many of the building materials and furnishings present in a room in a reinforced concrete building in Tokyo, Japan. The emission flux of formaldehyde from a desk was high (125μg/m2/h), whereas fluxes from a door and flooring were low (21.5 and 16.5μg/m2/h, respectively). The emission fluxes of toluene from the ceiling and the carpet were high (80.0 and 72.3μg/m2/h, respectively), whereas that from the flooring was low (9.09μg/m2/h). The indoor and outdoor concentrations of formaldehyde were 61.5 and 8.64μg/m3, respectively, and those of toluene were 43.2 and 17.5μg/m3, respectively. The air exchange rate of the room as measured by the perfluorocarbon tracer (PFT) method was 1.84/h. Taking into consideration the area of the emission sources, the carpet, ceiling, and walls were identified as the principal emission sources, contributing 24%, 20%, and 22% of the formaldehyde, respectively, and 22%, 27%, and 14% of the toluene, respectively, assuming that the emission rate from every major emission sources could be measured. In contrast, the door, the flooring, and the desk contributed little to the indoor levels of formaldehyde (1.0%, 0.54%, and 4.1%, respectively) and toluene (2.2%, 0.31%, and 0.85%, respectively). |
Nicolle, Jérôme; Desauziers, Valérie; Mocho, Pierre; Ramalho, Olivier Optimization of FLEC®-SPME for field passive sampling of VOCs emitted from solid building materials Journal Article In: Talanta, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 730 - 737, 2009, ISSN: 0039-9140. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Building material, Emission cell, Indoor air, Passive sampling, SPME, VOC @article{NICOLLE2009730,The FLEC®-SPME sampler, described in a previous paper, consists of an emission cell coupled with solid phase microextraction (SPME) for passive sampling of VOCs emitted from building materials. It represents an interesting alternative to standard dynamic sampling protocol as it is easier to implement. If standard dynamic sampling determines emission rates, passive FLEC®-SPME aims to the determination of the concentration in air at the material surface. That could be assumed provided that material/air equilibrium is reached. Thus, VOCs emission kinetics were studied for 3 different materials (pine wood panel, carpet and PVC floor) to determine equilibrium times. Then, the relevance of the method has been assessed using new materials through a 3-day emission test. Qualitative results were compared to those obtained from the standard method to check the ability of FLEC®-SPME to detect the most toxic compounds, named “VOCs of interest” and listed in the French regulation. Minor differences were observed, so this methodology seems promising, especially for field studies aiming in the identification of VOCs sources in buildings. Moreover, the concentration at the material surface combined to emission modeling could be used to predict indoor VOCs concentrations helping in indoor air quality diagnostic. |
2006 |
Li, Feng; Niu, Jianlei; Zhang, Lizhi A physically-based model for prediction of VOCs emissions from paint applied to an absorptive substrate Journal Article In: Building and Environment, vol. 41, no. 10, pp. 1317 - 1325, 2006, ISSN: 0360-1323. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Building material, Emission, Field and laboratory emission cell (FLEC), Indoor air quality, Mass transfer, Volatile organic compounds @article{LI20061317,Paints are widely used in residential and commercial buildings. The surface areas covered by this kind of coatings are usually very large. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from such kind of materials will affect indoor air quality decisively. A relatively simple but physically-based model was developed to simulate VOCs emissions from paints. The model parameters have distinct physical meanings and thus the model is easy to scale up. The field and laboratory emission cell (FLEC) was used to investigate the VOCs emissions from commercially available water-based emulsion paint. Totally 23 individual VOCs were detected and quantified, the most abundant VOC was 1-ethyl-3-methylbenzene. Test data were used to obtain model parameters and to validate the proposed model. Good agreements between experimental data and model predictions were evidenced. Paints applied on two different substrates aluminium and particle board were simulated. Results indicated that real substrates like particle board would act like a ‘sponge’, which lowers the peak concentration but prolongs the presence of VOCs from the applied paint. |