In-door air quality
Assessment of the in-door air quality
The increased concern with health leads to a growing attention to the assessment of indoor air quality and chemical compound emissions from materials used in buildings and home decoration (mainly from oor covering and upholstery).
In this respect, VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) and formaldehyde are measured on a regular basis.
Centexbel performs tests according to the following standards:
- ISO 16000-2 - 16000-6 & 16000-9
- ISO 16017-1
- prEN 13419-1 till 3
- VDA-275
Centexbel is accredited by GuT and Oeko-Tex to perform emission measurements and to issue the corresponding certificates.
Centexbel disposes of 7 fully-equipped test chambers in which compounds are released from the test material. The emitted compounds are collected on an adsorbens and analysed by GC-MS.
Micro-Chamber/Thermal Extractor™ (µ-CTE™)
- simultaneous measurement of surface and bulk emissions of six samples
- quick analysis of e.g. formaldehyde and other carbonyls
- the analytic thermal desoprtion process is treated off-line allowing to place a new set of samples while the previous set is being analysed
Remarks for the handling of samples
The specimens have to be sealed airtight immediately after production and submitted to a controlled conditioning in situ.
For a fast screening, thermal extraction is performed to obtain qualitative results. If necessary, the emission measurements will be accompanied by odour measurements, (e.g. according to VDA-270) to evaluate the sensory properties.
