VOCs Archives - IndoorChem

How does microbial growth in carpet dust impact microbial volatile organic compounds?

By Sarah Haines, PhD Candidate, The Ohio State University, @SarahRHaines We are excited to announce the recent publication of our paper, titled “Modeling microbial growth in carpet dust exposed to diurnal variations in relative humidity using the “Time-of-Wetness” framework” in the journal Indoor Air. This work is a culmination of research investigating how changes in […]

Organic compounds in indoor air like to accumulate in paint

By Lucas Algrim, a recent PhD student in Paul Ziemann’s research group at University of Colorado Boulder. A range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be found in the indoor environment. Many VOCs will be ventilated out of the building by the air handling system, but they can also sorb to indoor surfaces, in other […]

Ozone: Friend or Foe?

By Julia Bakker-Arkema and Marina Vance. When we think of “ozone”, many of us think about the hole in the ozone layer, located high up in the stratosphere—about 12 kilometers, or 7 miles above the earth’s surface. It’s much higher than Mount Everest and most types of clouds. The ozone layer is important because […]

What you wear affects what you breathe

By Dusan Licina (EPFL – École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne,@licinadusan), Glenn Morison (University of North Carolina, @gcmorr), Gabriel Bekö (Denmark Technical University) Charles Weschler (Denmark Technical University and Rutgers University,@CJWeschler) and William Nazaroff (University of California Berkeley) Take a couple of seconds to think about how much time we spend every day wearing […]

Bleach cleaning: indoor emissions, chemistry, and impacts on air quality

By Jimmy Mattila, a graduate student in the Farmer Group at Colorado State University (Twitter: @JimmyMattila) Bleach, an aqueous solution consisting of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and other oxidizers/surfactants, is a commonly used cleaning product in household and workplace environments. The efficacy of bleach stems from its potent antimicrobial and oxidizing properties. Bleach cleaning emits […]

Total observed organic carbon indoors

Derek found that the total organic carbon concentration was impressively large, three times higher than what you’d find in a typical American city and ten times higher than clean ocean air. He also found that the compounds in the museum were significantly fresher – less oxidized – than those in outdoor air.

New particle formation in the indoor environment

The presence of particles suspended in air is associated with negative health effects, including respiratory and cardiovascular issues. While some particles are emitted directly to the air from a source, such as from combustion, formation of new particles through atmospheric chemical reactions is less obvious to the casual citizen.

A Clothing Conundrum

Morrison remained at Berkeley for his PhD with Bill Nazaroff. Here, he took a more quantitative look into carpet and ozone chemistry, measuring yields of pollutants formed by carpets and making predictions to feed into a model. Morrison still likes to incorporate modelling in all of his projects. “If there isn’t a modelling component, I don’t feel like I know what is going on,” he explains.

How dampness in homes impacts indoor air pollution

US researchers are exploring to what degree dampness in homes alters the chemistry and composition of the indoor air. The chemicals formed on wet indoor surfaces could be partially responsible for the increased respiratory symptoms seen in damp homes, an effect that has never been fully explained by mold and mildew.

IndoorChem