Material Emissions

Research Focus

  • Develop model-based practical test methods for characterizing the VOC emissions from building materials, furnishings, and office equipments
  • Develop advanced mechanistic models for predicting the VOC emissions and transport in materials and systems as well as for extrapolating short-term laboratory test results to long-term emissions in real environments
  • Develop similarity theory and correlations between the moisture and VOC transport in porous media
  • Develop practical tools for assessing the impact of material emissions and indoor sinks (adsorption/desorption materials) on indoor air quality
  • Develop a database of material emissions for use in the CHAMP simulation environment

Our Research Facilities

  • Two full-scale environmental chambers for air cleaner testing and evaluation in accordance with ASTM D6670
  • Eight small-scale environmental chambers of material emission testing in accordance of ASTM D5116
  • Dual-chamber system for measuring VOC diffusion and partition coefficients of building materials
  • VOC extraction apparatus for determining the initial VOC contents and composition in material specimens
  • Tracer analytical chemistry lab equipment including ATD-GC/MS, ATD-GC/FID, PTR-MS and HPLC

The Research Team

  • Dr. Jensen Zhang (Team Leader)
  • Ms. Beverly Guo
  • Dr. Kwanghoon Han

Other active collaborating faculty and researchers:

  • Dr. Jiping Zhu, Health Canada
  • Dr. Yinping Zhang, Professor, Department of Building Science and Technology, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
  • Dr. Ying Xu, Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin
  • Dr. John Little, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech

Active Projects

  • Emission database – development of a comprehensive VOC emission database
  • Emission and sorption characteristics of green materials
  • Effects of humidity and temperature on VOC emissions and transport
  • Similarity between VOC and moisture transport

Past Projects

  • Standard Test Methods – Development of standard test methods for BIFMA and Xerox (J. Zhang)
  • VOC Extraction – Development of a novel method for VOC extractions (J. smith)
  • Office environment – Characterization of VOC sources in the the office environment (I. Berrios)
  • Residential environment – Field measurements of VOC concentrations in low-income residential homes – AUDIT-VOC (Z. Zhang)
  • Sorption of air freshening compounds on building materials