Volatilization of low vapor pressure – volatile organic compounds (LVP–VOCs) during three cleaning products-associated activities: Potential contributions to ozone formation

• Predicts the fraction of LVP–VOCs volatilized from three cleaning product uses.
• Compares contribution to ozone formation for two modes of releases.
• Impact on ozone formation is very sensitive to what occurs during the use phase.
• This study helps evaluate the impact of LVP–VOCs on air quality.
• Shows the need for emissions of LVP–VOCs for other use categories.

There have been many studies to reduce ozone formation mostly from volatile organic compound (VOC) sources. However, the role of low vapor pressure (LVP)–VOCs from consumer products remains mostly unexplored and unaddressed. This study explores the impact of high production volume LVP–VOCs on ozone formation from three cleaning products-associated activities (dishwashing, clothes washing, and surface cleaning). We develop a model framework to account for the portion available for ozone formation during the use phase and from the down-the-drain disposal. We apply experimental studies that measured emission rates or models that were developed for estimating emission rates of organic compounds during the use phase. Then, the fraction volatilized (fvolatilized) and the fraction disposed down the drain (fdown-the-drain) are multiplied by the portion available for ozone formation for releases to the outdoor air (fO3|volatilized) and down-the-drain (fO3|down-the-drain), respectively. Overall, for chemicals used in three specific cleaning-product uses, fvolatilized is less than 0.6% for all studied LVP–VOCs. Because greater than 99.4% of compounds are disposed of down the drain during the use phase, when combined with fO3|volatilized and fO3|down-the-drain, the portion available for ozone formation from the direct releases to outdoor air and the down-the-drain disposal is less than 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively. The results from this study indicate that the impact of the studied LVP–VOCs on ozone formation is very sensitive to what occurs during the use phase and suggest the need for future research on experimental work at the point of use.

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