VOC evaluation of kitchen furniture respecting a model room test approach and calculation of predicted indoor air concentrations applying the power-law-model

Kitchen indoor air quality is affected by various impact factors. Besides emissions caused by cooking activities, for instance electrical house-hold appliances functionalized with heating elements may provoke - especially in the scope of initial usage - temporarily or in long-term condition an adverse indoor air hygiene by release of volatile organic compounds (VOC). Even more, kitchen built-in furniture items characterized by large surface areas represent a potential VOC source devaluing indoor air quality.To this effect, the configuration of the furnishing surfaces (lacquered facings, melamine based coatings), the proportion of installed furniture surface area to room volume (loading factor), and the room specific air exchange rates impact the exposure situation for the room user with regard to adversely acting concentrations of toxicological relevant substances like formaldehyde currently classified as a human carcinogen. Recently, a normative reference method for determining formaldehyde released from wood or composite based panels came into force respecting a model room based test approach instead of an area specific one. In this context, the emission share of a commercially available, newly produced built-in kitchen should be evaluated with regard to the release of volatile organic compounds into indoor air in close adaptation to real climatic conditions.The application of a mathematical model enabled the calculation of predicted VOC indoor air concentrations for prospective evaluation time points based on actually quantified concentration findings.