Household materials as emission sources of naphthalene in Canadian homes and their contribution to indoor air

The objective of this study was to identify household materials that may contribute to the indoor naphthalene concentration in Canadian homes. Ninety-nine household materials including building materials, furnishings, and consumer products were tested. These materials included well-known naphthalene-containing products such as mothballs as well as building and consumer products where naphthalene could have been either added as part of a liquid formulation or used as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of solid materials and product components. A fast screening method was used to determine the naphthalene concentration in a micro-scale test chamber. The tested materials were ranked based on the naphthalene emission strength combined with the amount of products typically used in homes. As expected, the results showed that mothballs, which had the highest emission factor, are one of the predominant sources. Interestingly, vinyl and wooden furniture with high emission factors and painted walls and ceiling with large surface areas were found to be important sources with the source strength even larger than those of mothballs when maximum emission factors were assumed for these building materials and furnishings. This suggests that some building materials and furnishings could be significant contributors to indoor naphthalene concentrations. This study shows that selecting materials with lower naphthalene emission factors could be one of many ways to reduce the indoor naphthalene concentration.

► We test 99 household materials to determine sources of naphthalene in homes. ► We analyze scenarios on naphthalene concentrations for different material selections. ► Furniture can be high emitters of naphthalene, in addition to mothballs. ► Selecting low emitting materials is important to reduce indoor concentrations.