Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as organic compounds whose boiling points are in the range from 50–100°C to 240–260°C when the air pressure is under 101.32kPa. One group of air pollutants are VOCs, or volatile organic compounds. They will exist as a gas at room temperature. Common sources of VOCs include benzene, toluene, trichloroethane, formaldehyde, etc. The harm of VOCs is obvious, when the concentration of VOC in the room exceeds a certain concentration, people feel headache, nausea, vomiting, and weakness in their limbs in a short period of time; In severe cases, convulsions, coma, and memory loss occur. VOCs harm the liver, kidneys, brain, and nervous system, and contain many carcinogens. Indoor air pollution by volatile organic compounds has attracted the attention of all countries.
What are the differences between TVOCs and VOCs?
Because there are so many VOCs, it’s impossible to monitor all of them continuously. Thus, a measurement known as TVOC was adopted to measure the overall amounts of VOCs in a given space.
Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) is a group of VOCs used to represent the entire pool of pollutants.
Common sources of TVOC
Common sources of TVOC include paints (such as formaldehyde), lacquers, cleaning supplies, furnishings, office equipment, glues, alcohol, and human breath. There are thousands of these substances, with some examples commonly found in buildings including:
• Benzene - found in tobacco smoke, paint thinner, deodorizers, air fresheners, furniture polish
• Formaldehyde - found in disinfectants, furniture upholstery, carpets, plywood
• Ethylene glycol - found in cleaning agents, personal care products, perfumes
• Methylene chloride - found in spot removers, dry cleaned clothes, fabric cleaners, commercial solvents, air conditioner refrigerant
• Tetrachloroethylene - used in solvents, dry cleaning, paint strippers
• Toluene - used in paint, metal cleaners, adhesives
• Ammonia - About 80% of the ammonia used in agriculture as fertilizer. Ammonia is also used as a refrigerant gas, for purification of water supplies, and in the manufacture of plastics, explosives, textiles, pesticides, dyes and other chemicals.
How TVOC harms health?
• Eye, nose and throat irritation
• Headaches, loss of coordination and nausea
• Damage to liver, kidney & central nervous system
• Some organics can cause cancer in animals, some are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.
