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.
2016 |
Lyng, Nadja Lynge; Gunnarsen, Lars; Andersen, Helle Vibeke; Kofoed-Sørensen, Vivi; Clausen, Per Axel Measurement of PCB emissions from building surfaces using a novel portable emission test cell Journal Article In: Building and Environment, vol. 101, pp. 77 - 84, 2016, ISSN: 0360-1323. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Building materials, emission rate, Emission test cell, Indoor air, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Semivolatile organic compound (SVOCs) @article{LYNG201677,Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in building materials like caulks and paints from 1930–1970s and in some cases that caused elevated PCB concentrations in the indoor air at levels considered harmful to occupant health. PCBs are semivolatile organic compounds and capable of spreading from the original source to adjacent materials, indoor air and via adsorption from the air to indoor surfaces, causing secondary contaminations. Remediation of buildings with unsatisfactory indoor air concentrations is a complex and difficult task due to the secondary contamination of building materials and there is a need to prioritise remediation measures on different materials. An inexpensive and portable emission test cell was developed to resemble indoor conditions in relation to the area specific ventilation rate. Emissions were measured using the test cell in the laboratory on freshly made PCB paint. Further, the chamber was used for determining emissions from PCB-containing building materials in the field as well as remediated walls. The measurements showed that sorption of PCBs to chamber walls was insignificant after 2–4 days of exposure to the source. Over a period of two weeks emission rates did not change from any of the tested surfaces, however in the laboratory experiment emission rates decreased over a longer period (48 days) and was most pronounced for the lower chlorinated PCBs. |
Noguchi, Miyuki; Yamasaki, Akihiro Passive flux sampler measurements of emission rates of phthalates from poly(vinyl chloride) sheets Journal Article In: Building and Environment, vol. 100, pp. 197 - 202, 2016, ISSN: 0360-1323. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: emission rate, Sampling, Semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) @article{NOGUCHI2016197,Emission rates of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) from poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) sheets containing DEHP as a plasticizer at various contents (0.16%–32.3%) were measured using the passive gas flux sampling method. The gas sampler was made of Pyrex glass and had a glass fiber filter inside. The sampler was placed on the surface of a PVC sheet for a given sampling period (up to 24 h), then the DEHP captured by the glass fiber filter was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The sampling temperature was 50 °C. The surface concentration y0 (the DEHP concentration in the gas immediately adjacent to the surface of the PVC sheet) was determined from the experimental results and a transient DEHP emission model. The surface concentrations that were found agreed with values that have previously been published, most of which were determined in chamber emission experiments that require a longer test period than was used here. The method presented therefore allows the surface concentration y0, which is considered to be one of the most important parameters determining SVOC emissions from solids such as PVC sheets, to be determined quickly and simply. The experimentally determined surface concentrations and the DEHP contents of the PVC sheets that were used correlated well. |
2015 |
Poulhet, Guillaume; Dusanter, Sébastien; Crunaire, Sabine; Locoge, Nadine; Kaluzny, Pascal; Coddeville, Patrice Recent developments of passive samplers for measuring material emission rates: Toward simple tools to help improving indoor air quality Journal Article In: Building and Environment, vol. 93, pp. 106 - 114, 2015, ISSN: 0360-1323, (Special Issue: Indoor pollutants, chemistry and health- Selected papers presented at Indoor Air 2014 conference in Hong Kong). Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: emission rate, Formaldehyde, Hydrocarbons, Indoor emissions, Passive flux sampler, Source apportionment @article{POULHET2015106,Passive samplers have recently been proposed as simple and inexpensive tools to measure emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from building and furnishing materials. These samplers can be used to pinpoint strong emitters of targeted pollutants, including hydrocarbons and oxygenated VOCs, which is of great interest to design efficient strategies aimed at improving indoor air quality. A passive sampler consists of a small cell that is exposed on a flat surface to trap material emissions. Three Passive Flux Samplers (PFS) have been developed at Mines Douai, an engineering school from Northern France, to carry out source apportionment studies of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and aromatic hydrocarbons, including benzene, toluene, xylenes, and higher molecular weight compounds. Over a 6-h exposure duration, these PFS exhibit linear responses and detection limits of a few μg m−2 h−1 that are low enough for monitoring material emissions and to perform extensive source apportionment studies. A few other samplers, designed using different geometries, have also been proposed in the literature. This publication summarizes findings on the development and the use of passive samplers with the objective to highlight the potential of these new tools for indoor air quality studies. |
2013 |
Liang, Weihui; Yang, Xudong In: Building and Environment, vol. 69, pp. 114 - 120, 2013, ISSN: 0360-1323. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: emission rate, Formaldehyde, Indoor air quality control, Residential building @article{LIANG2013114,Formaldehyde is a commonly observed indoor air contaminant with proved health effects. For the control of indoor formaldehyde, quick methods applicable in actual buildings are needed to identify the emission sources and estimate overall emission rates. The concentration decay and increase patterns with windows open or closed must also be studied to devise control strategy guidelines for natural ventilation in buildings. In this paper, a quick and easy-to-use method was introduced to identify the emission sources and estimate the overall emission rate resulting from all the emission sources. The method was applied to an apartment unit with multiple formaldehyde sources and showed promising applicability. The formaldehyde concentration decay patterns with different window opening degrees were measured and compared with the concentration increase patterns with closed windows. The results confirmed that natural ventilation through window opening can quickly remove indoor contaminants, and that the time scale of formaldehyde concentration increase is much bigger than that of decay patterns. The results imply that in control of indoor contaminant, natural intermittent ventilation by opening and closing windows is applicable. |
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. |
1998 |
Uhde, E; Borgschulte, A; Salthammer, T Characterization of the field and laboratory emission cell—FLEC: Flow field and air velocities Journal Article In: Atmospheric Environment, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 773 - 781, 1998, ISSN: 1352-2310. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Air velocity, Chambers, emission rate, FLEC, flow field, VOC @article{UHDE1998773,Abstract The Field and Laboratory Emission Cell (FLEC) has been designed for VOC emission testing of material surfaces. Knowledge about the air flow field in the cell compartment is highly desired, as the air velocity at the sample surface may considerably influence the emission behaviour. A simple mathematical approach of flow theory predicted an unevenly distributed air flow into the FLEC. This could be confirmed by air velocity measurements using a self-constructed hot-wire anemometer. With a total flow of 250 ml min−1, air velocities measured at the surface ranged from ⩽ 0.1 to 0.9 cm s−1. A surface area of very low air velocities was detected in the FLEC centre with a radius of ≈20 mm. A VOC emission test using a simulated punctual source yielded different emission rates at different locations in the cell compartment. |