Amine-Based Latex Coatings for Indoor Air CO2 Control in Commercial Buildings

High levels of indoor air CO2 in commercial buildings can lead to various health effects, commonly known as sick building syndrome. Passive control of indoor air CO2 through solid adsorbents incorporated into the paint offers a high potential to handle CO2 without utilizing much energy. This study focuses on incorporating silica-supported aminopolymers into a polyacrylic-based latex that could be used as a buffer material for the passive control of CO2 in enclosed environments. To maximize the effect of the pigment (adsorbent), paints were all prepared at critical pigment volume concentration (CPVC) levels. CO2 at 800 and 3000 ppm were used to asses both low and high level contaminations. The removal efficiency of the surface coatings was evaluated within typical time frames (10 h for adsorption and desorption). Our laboratory-scale chamber results indicated that the silica-tetraethylenepentamine-based paint with 70 wt % loading exhibits the best adsorption performance, comparable to that of the powder-based sorbent, with only a similar to 2.0% decrease in the adsorption efficiency. Our results also revealed that the optimization of paint formulation is critical in passively controlling indoor air CO2. The findings of this study highlight the potential of amine-based adsorbents as pigments in high PVC paints for indoor CO2 control in commercial buildings.