Characteristics of carbonyls and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in residences in Beijing, China

doi:10.1007/s11783-014-0743-0

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2016, Vol. 10

Issue (1) : 73-84 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-014-0743-0

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Characteristics of carbonyls and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in residences in Beijing, China

Hengyi DUAN,Xiaotu LIU,Meilin YAN,Yatao WU,Zhaorong LIU(

)

Joint Key Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

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Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbonyl compounds were measured both indoors and outdoors in 50 residences of Beijing in heating (December, 2011) and non-heating seasons (April/May, 2012). SUMMA canisters for VOCs and diffusive samplers for carbonyl compounds were deployed for 24 h at each site, and 94 compounds were quantified. Formaldehyde, acetone and acetaldehyde were the most abundant carbonyl compounds both indoors and outdoors with indoor median concentrations being 32.1, 21.7 and 15.3 μg·m⁻³, respectively. Ethane (17.6 μg·m⁻³), toluene (14.4 μg·m⁻³), propane (11.2 μg·m⁻³), ethene (8.40 μg·m⁻³), n-butane (6.87 μg·m⁻³), and benzene (5.95 μg·m⁻³) showed the high median concentrations in indoor air. Dichloromethane, p-dichlorobenzene (p-DCB) and toluene exhibited extremely high levels in some residences, which were related with a number of indoor emission sources. Moreover, isoprene, p-dichlorobenzene and carbonyls showed median indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratios larger than 3, indicating their indoor sources were prevailing. Chlorinated compounds like CFCs were mainly from outdoor sources for their I/O ratios being less than 1. In addition, indoor concentrations between two sampling seasons varied with different compounds. Carbonyl compounds and some chlorinated compounds had higher concentrations in the non-heating season, while alkanes, alkenes, aromatic compounds showed an increase in the heating season. Indoor concentration of VOCs and carbonyls were influenced by locations, interior decorations and indoor activities, however the specific sources for indoor VOCs and carbonyls could not be easily identified. The findings obtained in this study would significantly enhance our understandings on the prevalent and abundant species of VOCs as well as their concentrations and sources in Beijing residences.

Keywords indoor air Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) residence carbonyl compounds

Corresponding Author(s): Zhaorong LIU

Online First Date: 09 July 2014 Issue Date: 03 December 2015

Cite this article:

Hengyi DUAN,Xiaotu LIU,Meilin YAN, et al. Characteristics of carbonyls and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in residences in Beijing, China[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2016, 10(1): 73-84.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-014-0743-0
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2016/V10/I1/73

Fig.1 Sampling locations (A) urban communities around Peking University; (B) suburban communities in Xi’erqi. The pentagrams represent investigated communities

Tab.1 Descriptions of indoor and outdoor conditions of sampling residences

compounds	indoor(n = 100)	outdoor(n = 22)	?compounds	indoor(n = 100)	outdoor(n = 22)
ave^a)±sd	med^b)	ave±sd	med^b	ave^a)±sd	med^b)	ave±sd	med
carbonyls					?alkenes
?formaldehyde	40.2±26.2	32.1	9.11±3.62	8.22	??ethene	12.0±15.0	8.40	7.74±5.24	5.64
?acetaldehyde	17.0±10.3	15.3	5.82±1.81	5.52	??propene	5.99±5.48	4.67	3.82±2.21	3.21
?acetone	23.6±10.7	21.7	10.6±4.92	9.04	??1-butene	1.11±1.15	0.81	0.9±0.73	0.58
?propionaldehyde	2.73±1.53	2.45	1.70±1.19	1.25	??isoprene	4.16±4.12	3.38	0.53±0.43	0.47
?butyraldehyde	3.73±2.01	3.31	2.28±0.87	2.00	??halohydrocarbon
?benzaldehyde	1.30±0.90	1.05	0.66±0.49	0.76	??cfc12	3.25±1.90	3.04	3.11±0.35	3.13
?valeraldehyde	2.76±2.24	2.15	0.82±1.64	0.34	??cfc22	4.14±3.95	3.59	3.92±1.65	4.00
?m/o-tolualdehyde	0.98±0.62	0.81	0.37±0.28	0.31	?chloromethane	2.64±1.07	2.51	2.13±0.54	2.12
?hexaldehyde	8.80±6.32	6.90	0.87±0.50	0.86	??cfc11	4.09±7.13	2.18	2.09±0.49	2.04
?2,5-dbf	1.43±1.05	1.34	0.96±0.70	1.04	??dcm	12.5±78.5	4.05	3.6±1.68	3.29
?alkanes					??chloroform	1.15±1.41	0.85	0.84±0.67	0.63
?ethane	30.9±43.5	17.6	7.1±3.96	5.53	??1,2-dce	2.49±1.79	2.27	1.79±0.86	1.74
?propane	16.0±16.7	11.2	7.26±3.17	7.16	??1,2-dcp	2.06±1.33	1.94	2.19±1.36	1.92
?i-butane	8.41±9.49	5.94	4.64±2.28	4.23	??p-dcb	23.7±60.5	4.97	1.53±1.43	1.10
?n-butane	8.79±7.67	6.87	5.02±2.38	4.64	??aromatics
?i-pentane	7.79±8.56	5.71	4.29±2.53	4.01	??benzene	7.35±11.6	5.95	5.87±2.9	5.91
?n-pentane	3.79±3.92	2.94	2.38±1.19	2.29	??toluene	23.5±45.6	14.4	11.2±7.55	10.3
?2-methylpentane	2.00±2.08	1.58	1.66±1.24	1.48	?ethylbenzene	3.68±2.49	3.39	3.41±2.12	3.21
?cyclopentane	1.13±2.89	0.61	0.29±0.18	0.26	??m/p-xylene	6.33±4.41	5.64	5.89±4.12	5.35
?3-methylpentane	1.36±1.18	1.17	1.16±1.14	0.91	??o-xylene	2.32±1.57	2.17	2.08±1.46	1.95
?n-hexane	4.58±15.8	1.94	1.85±1.32	1.61	??styrene	1.85±2.13	1.19	0.83±0.6	0.75
?mcp	1.15±0.86	0.98	1.02±0.65	0.93	??1,2,4-tmb	1.99±2.10	1.32	1.59±1.58	1.03
?n-octane	1.39±3.22	0.81	0.61±0.43	0.57
?n-decane	1.14±1.37	0.73	0.76±0.54	0.50

Tab.2 Concentration of different categories of carbonyls and VOCs in selected homes and outdoor (μg·m⁻³)

Tab.3 Comparison of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde concentrations (μg·m⁻³) in residences with other studies

Tab.4 Comparison of BTX and p-DCB concentrations (μg·m⁻³) in residences with other studies

Fig.2 Minimum, maximum and median I/O ratios of selected VOCs and carbonyls

Fig.3 Seasonal variations of total concentrations of (a) alkanes (ethane), (b) alkenes (ethene), (c) halohydrocarbon (p-DCB), (d) aromatics (toluene) and (e) carbonyls(formaldehyde). (f) indoor carbonyl concentrations subtracted from relevant outdoor’s

Fig.4 Selected median concentrations of indoor VOC and carbonyls in suburban residences (around Xi’erqi) subtracted by corresponding concentrations in urban residences (around Peking University) in heating and non-heating seasons

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