If we think about our typical day, mostly spent between home, work, offices and means of transport, we can easily realize how much time we spend indoors. This assumption can make us even more aware of the fact that the pollution to pay attention to is not just external pollution. Here’s what you need to know about VOCwhere they are found and how they can make the places we live more or less healthy.
What are VOCs (or VOCs)?
I VOC (volatile organic compounds) sono volatile organic compounds (COV is the acronym in Italian). It’s about chemical substances That evaporate under specific environmental conditionswhich they are emitted by the materialsbut also from plantgive it animals and fromhuman being.
There are VOCs that are sold in pharmacies, such as vapors or balsamic ointments, which in low doses have a beneficial purpose. Instead of others (for example benzene which is recognized as a carcinogen) the negative impact on health has been established. Determine what theeffect of VOCs on people’s health sometimes it’s complicated and it’s related to various factors such as the characteristics of the individual, the concentration or interaction between molecules, the frequency or duration of inhalation.
Among the main ones sources of VOCs in indoor spaces there are cosmetics, cleaning products, heating and air conditioning systems, glues and solvents, cigarette smoke, printers and photocopiers. Furthermore, i building materials they furnishings they can release high concentrations of VOCs, especially when they are just installed and in the weeks immediately following.
VOC and indoor air quality
L’indoor pollution has an impact that should not be underestimated on our well-being, considering that, on average, we spend the most of the time indoors. Air pollution, both indoors and outdoors, is one of the main risk factors environmental for health of the population. Therefore, one green building which aims at the realization of healthy environmentswith materials and processes that avoid releasing pollutants into the airdefines a design choice sensitive to the well-being of those who live there.
The results of the Alfa-pinene project commissioned by Fiemme Tremila
The Trentino company Fiemme Tremila specializing in biocompatible wooden floors, coverings and furniture has commissioned a research on its products al CNR-IVALSA (ora CNR-IBE). The floors were analysed, but also the raw materials such as oils, glues and pigments. After 18 months of analysis, the Institute for the Valorization of Wood and Arboreal Species of the National Research Council confirmed the absence of radiation, heavy metals, petroleum derivatives and VOCs considered harmful. On the contrary, it detected the emission of VOCs typical of plants and vegetables, including some monoterpenes such as Alpha-pinene from which the project takes its name.
«I for one was very surprised by the results, obtained using extremely severe scientific methods. Their products are results free from VOCs considered harmful from the main international databases”, he explains Marco Fellinresearcher at CNR-IBE.
«What can be considered the keystone of the research was find in the floors of Fiemme Tremila the same molecules that are there in balsamic products sold in pharmacies. Then we went in the pristine woods con different plants. In those of pine, fir, in beech forests, in oak forests and even in a glacier. There too we analyzed the air and found the same molecules, including limonene, alpha-pinene and beta-pinene. However, neither the air in the woods nor that sampled on the glacier was found to be completely uncontaminated (pollution from benzene and other molecules, unfortunately, is a global phenomenon), while these harmful components did not emerge from the floors. Finally, we also analyzed floors from other manufacturers with similar lines and the results were quite varied. Some floors were actually biocompatible, while from others we detected emissions of industrial solvents such as toluene.”
VOC: limitations for a healthy environment
«As with drugs or foods, in the end it is the quantity that makes a molecule poison. As regards wooden floors, whether they are biocompatible or traditional, we are talking about emission levels that provide minimal doses to the body. It means that if they are Beneficial or toxic VOCsthe dose is always extremely low and their action on the body is limited, whether positive or negative. Clearly, it is still preferable not to breathe harmful air. In Italy, in Europe and in the world there are some norms which provide for limitations on VOCs harmful like formaldehyde. Therefore, a wood-based product cannot contain more than a certain threshold. Of course there are virtuous companies who are much lower compared to this limit or produce floors that do not emit it”.
«This is not something to be alarmed about, but rather minimize risks to try to have one home as healthy as possible. What wooden floors emit, and what we breathe, are in any case quantities that I wouldn’t worry about or go and remove a floor. However, if, for example, I am used to little ventilation, I have a child who has asthma problems and spends 20 hours a day on the floor, perhaps I can think of something. Then there are other factors that influence. We must also consider what type of house we have or what lifestyle we follow”, clarifies the expert.
The emission rate
«All the laws and regulations that calculate how much a wooden panel emits refer to a panel of one square meter that emits an air volume of one cubic meter, in a ratio of 1 to 1. This, more or less, is a standard room. But paradoxically, if I cover the floor, the walls, the ceiling with this material, I will no longer have one square meter per cubic meter. If so I fill a house of furniture made of chipboard panels which is usually very emissive, I will perhaps be able to have a ratio 2-3 times larger».
«The particleboard is full of glue and formaldehyde continues to leach out of the panel even after a hundred years. This is due to a chemical property of the substance that dissociates with environmental humidity. Instead, the emissions of a piece of solid wood last a few months or at most a few years, as it is only superficially coated with some oil or varnish. It is only the very last layer that emits and, among other things, it does so for a limited period of time. In the floors of Fiemme Tremila, where the emission is of beneficial VOCs, they themselves provide a cleaning and maintenance kit to ensure that the floor emits the VOCs that we find in nature for longer and continues to do so in the future”.
VOC: tips for reducing exposure
«Among the behaviors that can be implemented to reduce risks there is choice of floor with low, or without, harmful emissions, which are certified. Then, you can choose to do not use air freshenersespecially the cheap ones, or prefer those made with pure essential oils. But we must particularly emphasize the importance of ventilate the rooms».
«As regards formaldehyde, there is an initial emission which goes away within one or two months of purchase, with the classic new smell. During this period it is important to ventilate to ensure that this free formaldehyde goes away. After the first block of emissions, formaldehyde remains which the furniture will continue to emit over the years and which is released in contact with the humidity of the environment. But since it is very little, unless you have a house full of furniture, it shouldn’t be a problem. Even more so, the key is not to put toxic substances in the house, preferring instead biocompatible products, and in any case it is always useful to ventilate”, continues Fellin.
«The change of air is also very important for CO2. They can be purchased home detectors of CO2 and it is impressive to see how the latter often rises well above the values recommended by the WHO, both at home, but also and above all in schools. Too high a concentration of CO2 can cause phenomena such as i lapses in attention o to drowsiness. The best thing would be there controlled mechanical ventilation with thermal energy recovery».
Possible health effects
Exposure to some VOCs can cause effects ranging from sensory discomfort up to severe alterations in the state of health. «Looking at the majority of us, the thresholds that we have by law protect us strongly. Even if you choose a floor that it has no negative emissionsobviously it’s a other type of security», concludes Marco Fellin.