Sources of Volatile Organic Compounds in a University Building

Abstract

A total of 34 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured in the indoor of laboratories, offices and classrooms of the Chemical Engineering Department of Hacettepe University in Ankara in 2 week-day passive sampling campaigns. The average concentrations ranged from 0.77 to 265 μg m⁻³ at the different indoor sites, with the most abundant VOC found to be toluene (119.6 μg m⁻³), followed by styrene (21.24 μg m⁻³), 2-ethyltoluene (17.11 μg m⁻³), n-hexane (10.21 μg m⁻³) and benzene (9.42 μg m⁻³). According to the factor analysis, the evaporation of solvents used in the laboratories was found to be the dominant source.

Keywords:

• indoor air pollution
• volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• factor analysis
• passive sampling
• benzene
• toluene
• ethylbenzene
• o, m and p-xylene polymers (BTEX)