Recent developments of passive samplers for measuring material emission rates: Toward simple tools to help improving indoor air quality

• Passive sampling of VOC emissions from building materials.
• Development of three passive samplers.
• Intercomparison of two passive samplers for measuring formaldehyde emissions.
• Source apportionments of indoor emissions to help improving indoor air quality.

Passive samplers have recently been proposed as simple and inexpensive tools to measure emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from building and furnishing materials. These samplers can be used to pinpoint strong emitters of targeted pollutants, including hydrocarbons and oxygenated VOCs, which is of great interest to design efficient strategies aimed at improving indoor air quality. A passive sampler consists of a small cell that is exposed on a flat surface to trap material emissions. Three Passive Flux Samplers (PFS) have been developed at Mines Douai, an engineering school from Northern France, to carry out source apportionment studies of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and aromatic hydrocarbons, including benzene, toluene, xylenes, and higher molecular weight compounds. Over a 6-h exposure duration, these PFS exhibit linear responses and detection limits of a few μg m−2 h−1 that are low enough for monitoring material emissions and to perform extensive source apportionment studies. A few other samplers, designed using different geometries, have also been proposed in the literature. This publication summarizes findings on the development and the use of passive samplers with the objective to highlight the potential of these new tools for indoor air quality studies.