VOC emissions standards Comparison EU and USA Reinhard Oppl Member of CEN TC 351 WG2, US GBC IEQ TAG, and some more committees Eurofins Product Testing A/S Galten (DK), Hamburg (D), Barneveld (NL) Paris (F) and Des Moines (IA) 1
VOC emission standards Europe: USA: Testing standards only: EN ISO 16000 series, CEN TC 351 WG2, (EN 717-1) Testing and evaluation standards: DIBt (AgBB), EMICODE, Blue Angel, Natureplus, M1, Danish label, EU ecolabel Testing standard only: ASTM standards, e.g. D5116 guideline Testing and evaluation standards: CDPH standard practice "section 1350" ANSI standards, e.g. BIFMA M7.1/X7.1 Proprietary standards, e.g. Greenguard, CRI Green Label Plus, FloorScore, Indoor Advantage 2
International labels only US labels accepted by LEED DIBt, Germany (floorings) VOC regulations and AFSSET, France (several building products) M1, Finland (all building products) Blue Angel, Germany (many different products) Umweltzeichen, Austria (many different products) Indoor Air Comfort, Europe (several products) Danish Indoor Climate Label (many building products) Nordic Ecolabel ("Swan") (several building products) GuT, Europe (carpets) EMICODE, Europe (adhesives, sealants and more) CertiPUR, Europe (PUR foam) CertiPUR US (PUR foam) Californian Section 01350 / LEED (many building products + furniture) FloorScore, USA (floorings) BIFMA, USA (office furniture) Indoor Advantage, USA (several products) CRI, USA (carpets) Green Label, Hong Kong (several products) 3
Further reading: /ecolabels.aspx testing.eurofins.com/ecolabels.aspx 4
European VOC standards Basis: Earlier EN 13419, now ISO 16000 Most relevant parts: 3, 6, 9, 10, 11 of ISO 16000 Will be supplemented by standard of CEN TC 351 WG2 Based on VOC emission testing After 28 days storage, for most specification also after 3 days ½ air change per hour, 23 C, 50% RH, loading factor derived from reference room Results now are calculated for European Reference Room (earlier to ISO 16000-9 model room) Evaluation: Carcinogenic VOCs, TVOC and/or TSVOC, LCI, R, "non assessable" CLIs for almost 200 VOC, but different (Germany / France) Odor only in Finland and Denmark 5
California CDPH "Section 01350" Developed as purchase criteria in California In conjunction with CHPS for schools Based on VOC emission testing After 10 days storage, then 4 days in test chamber, tested at days 11, 12, 14, evaluated after day 14 1 air change per hour, 23 C, 50% RH, loading factor 0.3 0.7 m²/m³ Results calculated for class room and office room Evaluation: Limit values: CREL (chronic respiratory exposure levels) 35 VOCs are on CREL list of 2010 No TVOC limit value in California Revision is on-going in 2010 6
Other US standards ANSI/BIFMA (system furniture and seating) VOC testing after 3 + 7 days, extrapolation to 14 days, limit values for TVOC, formaldehyde, total aldehydes, 4-PCH CRI Green Label Plus (carpets and more) VOC testing after 1 + 14 days, control testing every 3 months after 1 day only, limit values for CREL and 13 specific VOCs Greenguard Several VOC within first 7 days, expanded list of limit values (CREL, 1/10 OEL, lists of carcinogenic VOCs) FloorScore, Indoor Advantage Applying CDPH section 1350 SCAQMD: VOC content limits, not dealing with emissions 7
Comparison between VOC rating systems I Comparable elements between Europe and USA: Temperature, relative humidity (23 C / mostly 50% RH) Easy to solve differences (by recalculation) Combination via emission rate (mg per m² and hour) Geometry of reference rooms in EU and in USA (residential vs. office and class room scenarios, 7 m² 90 m² / 17 m³ 230 m³) Loading factor (m²/m³) in reference rooms and test chamber can be solved by simple recalculation e.g. double ventilation => 50% air concentration allowing larger tolerance interval is necessary Ventilation in reference rooms (between 0.5 ach and 1.0 ach) Ventilation and loading in test chamber can be solved by allowing larger tolerance interval e.g. air change: 0.25 1.5 per hour 8
Comparison between VOC rating systems - II Difficult to solve differences Limit values TVOC or no TVOC Single VOC limit values (CREL, NIK, CLI, 1/10 OEL, ) Volatile aldehydes Time schedule of testing After 3 days plus 28 days? After 28 days only? After 14 days? After 10 days, 7 days,.. 9
Emission over Time Emissions Example of a decay curve Days 10 3 days days (Europe (Europe 1 st test) st test) 28 28 days days (Europe (Europe 2 nd test) nd test) 7 days days (ANSI/BIFMA) (ANSI/BIFMA) 2 nd nd test test (11+12+) (11+12+) 14 14 days days (CDPH (CDPH Section Section 1350) 1350) Solution: Test over longest time and take samples where required
Conclusions comparison USA - Europe Goal: Allow one test for several low VOC specifications Combine different testing schedules by performing testing at additional times Allow some intervals for ventilation (e.g. 0.25 1.5) for chamber loading, but with maximum value for loading (2 m²/m³) Perform different calculations for different reference rooms with different limit values Under these conditions, combined testing for US and EU specifications is possible CEN TC 351 WG2 draft standard goes that way 11