The FLEC® has been validated and used in research for many years.
Below is a publication list of journal articles, abstracts, poster or oral presentations where the FLEC or CHEMATEC’s other products have been in focus.
If you have anything that can be added to the list, we encourage you to contact CHEMATEC.
2014 |
Poulhet, G; Dusanter, S; Crunaire, S; Locoge, N; Gaudion, V; Merlen, C; Kaluzny, P; Coddeville, P Investigation of formaldehyde sources in French schools using a passive flux sampler Journal Article In: Building and Environment, vol. 71, pp. 111 - 120, 2014, ISSN: 0360-1323. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Emission rates, Formaldehyde, Indoor air, Mass balance model, Passive sampling, Public school @article{POULHET2014111,While indoor air quality issues have received increasing attention the past decades, detailed investigations of primary sources of indoor pollution are still difficult to carry out. There is a lack of analytical tools and measurement procedures to identify sources of pollutants and to characterize their emissions. Formaldehyde is a ubiquitous pollutant in indoor environments, which is known to lead to adverse health effects. This study describes a measurement procedure to apportion formaldehyde emissions from building and furnishing materials and presents a source apportionment study performed in French public schools. More than 29 sources of formaldehyde were characterized in each investigated classroom, with higher emissions from building materials compared to furnishing materials. Formaldehyde emission rates measured using passive flux samplers (PFS) range from 1.2 to 252 μg/m2/h, highlighting several strong emitters made of wood products and foam. Interestingly, the ceiling was identified as the main source of formaldehyde in most classrooms. Measured emissions and air exchange rates were constrained in a mass balance model to evaluate the impact of formaldehyde reduction strategies. These results indicate that formaldehyde concentrations can be reduced by 87–98% by removing or replacing the main source of emission by a less emissive material and by increasing the air exchange rate to 1 h−1. In addition, an intercomparison of total emissions calculated from (1) PFS measurements and from (2) measured formaldehyde concentrations and air exchange rates indicate that an unidentified sink of formaldehyde may exist in indoor environments. |
2009 |
Nicolle, Jérôme; Desauziers, Valérie; Mocho, Pierre; Ramalho, Olivier Optimization of FLEC®-SPME for field passive sampling of VOCs emitted from solid building materials Journal Article In: Talanta, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 730 - 737, 2009, ISSN: 0039-9140. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Building material, Emission cell, Indoor air, Passive sampling, SPME, VOC @article{NICOLLE2009730,The FLEC®-SPME sampler, described in a previous paper, consists of an emission cell coupled with solid phase microextraction (SPME) for passive sampling of VOCs emitted from building materials. It represents an interesting alternative to standard dynamic sampling protocol as it is easier to implement. If standard dynamic sampling determines emission rates, passive FLEC®-SPME aims to the determination of the concentration in air at the material surface. That could be assumed provided that material/air equilibrium is reached. Thus, VOCs emission kinetics were studied for 3 different materials (pine wood panel, carpet and PVC floor) to determine equilibrium times. Then, the relevance of the method has been assessed using new materials through a 3-day emission test. Qualitative results were compared to those obtained from the standard method to check the ability of FLEC®-SPME to detect the most toxic compounds, named “VOCs of interest” and listed in the French regulation. Minor differences were observed, so this methodology seems promising, especially for field studies aiming in the identification of VOCs sources in buildings. Moreover, the concentration at the material surface combined to emission modeling could be used to predict indoor VOCs concentrations helping in indoor air quality diagnostic. |