Characterisation of flame retardant emissions from treated consumer and building products in laboratory conditions and real life indoor environments

The widespread use of flame retardants (FRs) in various consumer products and building materials has led to their ubiquitous distribution within indoor microenvironments with many studies reporting concentrations in indoor air and dust. Growing evidence that various FRs are associated with potential health risks and the exposure susceptibility of particularly sensitive groups, make many of these chemicals an issue of concern. Key factors towards a better understanding and quantification of the indoor levels of FRs, are the emission mechanisms and emission magnitude of FRs from treated products. The present work studies the emission processes of two widely used groups of organic FRs: polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) and organophosphate FRs (OPFRs) in treated consumer products and building materials. Furthermore, their contribution to the overall indoor air quality was also assessed using standard emission test chambers and assessment studies in real-life indoor environments. To perform a fast and reliable quantification of the FR concentrations during the experiments, an innovative method for air sampling and analysis of the target FR chemicals was developed. The method is based on low-volume active air sampling of gaseous and particulate air fractions onto mixed-bed (polydimethylsiloxane/Tenax) sorption tubes followed by thermal-desorption and gas chromatography mass-spectrometry analysis. The performance of the developed method was further compared with existing standardized methods for the determination of FRs. The study approach included establishing of a basic emission test protocol for evaluation of FR emission rates (ERs) from treated products. The test protocol was based on the existing harmonized method for evaluation of VOC emissions from construction products. An extensive exploratory study assessing the influence of various environmental parameters (e.g. temperature, humidity) and chamber design on the ERs was conducted. The established FR test protocol was further used for assessment of ERs for FRs from various products (furniture, toys, building materials). The ERs were determined at “standard” (23°C) as well at test conditions simulating a typical use scenario for the products. Furthermore, the relationship between the estimated FR emission rates and the resulted levels in indoor air were also investigated. The outcomes of this work will further improve the general understanding of FR emissions from treated products and their overall contribution to the human exposure to FRs in indoor environments. Furthermore, the developed product emission test protocols could also contribute to ongoing standardization and product labelling initiatives of various products in term of SVOC emissions, leading to a healthy product policy.

Publication year:2022

Keywords:Doctoral thesis

Accessibility:Open