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.
2012 |
Marć, Mariusz; Zabiegała, Bożena; Namieśnik, Jacek Testing and sampling devices for monitoring volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in indoor air Journal Article In: TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, vol. 32, pp. 76 - 86, 2012, ISSN: 0165-9936. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Air quality, Building material, Direct thermal desorption, emission rate, Emission test chamber, Field and laboratory emission cell, Indoor air, Passive flux sampler, Sampling device, Volatile organic compound @article{MARC201276,Adults spend most of their time in enclosed spaces (e.g., apartment, office and public buildings). According to research conducted by scientists, air quality indoors is much worse than the ambient air quality outdoors. Hazardous chemicals found in air indoors can adversely affect the functioning of the human body and cause many respiratory and circulatory diseases. Harmful chemical compounds (mainly volatile organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds) in the indoor environment are present because they are emitted from building and construction materials, and indoor equipment. One way of determining the levels of emissions of harmful chemicals is to use emission test chambers (ETCs), which can optimize analytical parameters (e.g., temperature, humidity, loading factor of the test chamber and the air-exchange rate). This article reviews the literature on the analytical methodologies that are used for different types of ETC for estimating emissions of chemicals from building and construction materials and components of indoor equipment. |
2011 |
Kim, Ki-Wook; Lee, Byoung-Ho; Kim, Sumin; Kim, Hyun-Joong; Yun, Ju-Ho; Yoo, Seung-Eul; Sohn, Jong Ryeul Reduction of VOC emission from natural flours filled biodegradable bio-composites for automobile interior Journal Article In: Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 187, no. 1, pp. 37 - 43, 2011, ISSN: 0304-3894. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: 20L small chamber, Automobile interior, Biodegradable polymer, Field and laboratory emission cell, Thermo-extractor, Volatile organic compounds @article{KIM201137,Various experiments, such as the thermal extract (TE) method, field and emission cell (FLEC) method and 20L small chamber, were performed to examine the total volatile organic compound (TVOC) emissions from bio-composites. The TVOC of neat poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was ranged from 0.26mg/m2h to 4.11mg/m2h with increasing temperature. For both PLA bio-composites with pineapple flour and destarched cassava flour, the temperature increased from 0.30mg/m2h to 3.72mg/m2h and from 0.19mg/m2h to 8.74mg/m2h, respectively. The TVOC emission factors of all samples increased gradually with increasing temperature. Above 70°C, both PLA-P and PLA-C composites had higher TVOC emission factors than neat PLA due to the rapid emission of natural volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as furfural (2-furancarboxyaldehyde). PLA composites containing 30wt% flour had high 1,4-dioxane reduction ability, >50%. The TVOC of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) was emitted rapidly from 50°C to 90°C due to succinic acid from the pyrolysis of PBS. The TVOC emission factors of PLA bio-composite and PBS bio-composites were reduced using the bake-out method (temperature at 70°C and baking time 5h). The initial TVOC emission factors of the PLA and PBS bio-composites with pineapple flour and destarched cassava flour were reduced by the baking treatment using FLEC. The TVOC factors from PLA and PBS decreased until 5 days and were commonly maintained a relatively constant value after 5 days using 20L small chamber. The decrease in TVOC emission showed a similar trend to that of the TE and FLEC method. This method confirmed the beneficial effect of the baking treatment effect for polypropylene and linear density polyethylene (LDPE). |
2003 |
Zhang, L Z; Niu, J L Laminar fluid flow and mass transfer in a standard field and laboratory emission cell Journal Article In: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 91 - 100, 2003, ISSN: 0017-9310. Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Convection, Field and laboratory emission cell, Indoor air quality, Mass transfer @article{ZHANG200391,The field and laboratory emission cell (FLEC) is becoming a standard method of characterizing pollutant emissions from building materials. Based on this method, the material and the inner surface of the FLEC cap form a cone-shaped cavity. The airflow is distributed radially inward over the test surface through a slit in a circular-shaped channel at the perimeter of the chamber. After mass transfer, the air is exhausted through an outlet in the center. Usually, emission rate profiles are obtained using such cells. However, the local convective mass transfer coefficients are now needed. In this study, laminar fluid flow and mass transfer in a standard FLEC are investigated. The velocity field and moisture profiles are obtained by solving Navier–Stokes equations numerically. The whole geometry, including the air inlet and outlet, channel, air slit, and emission space, are included in the numerical modeling domain. The mean convective mass transfer coefficients are calculated and compared with the experimental data. In the test, distilled water is used in the FLEC lower chamber to substitute the emission surface. Mass transfer data are obtained by calculating humidity differences between the inlet and outlet of a gas stream flowing through the FLEC. The study concentrates on assessing the variations of velocity and humidity profiles, as well as convective mass transfer coefficients, in the cell. |