Bedroom Concentrations and Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds during Sleep.
Betty Molinier, Caleb Arata, Erin F Katz, David M Lunderberg, Jennifer Ofodile, Brett C Singer, William W Nazaroff, Allen H Goldstein
Author Information
Betty Molinier: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States. ORCID
Caleb Arata: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
Erin F Katz: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States. ORCID
David M Lunderberg: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
Jennifer Ofodile: Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States. ORCID
Brett C Singer: Indoor Environment Group and Residential Building Systems Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States. ORCID
William W Nazaroff: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States. ORCID
Allen H Goldstein: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States. ORCID
Because humans spend about one-third of their time asleep in their bedrooms and are themselves emission sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), it is important to specifically characterize the composition of the bedroom air that they experience during sleep. This work uses real-time indoor and outdoor measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to examine concentration enhancements in bedroom air during sleep and to calculate VOC emission rates associated with sleeping occupants. Gaseous VOCs were measured with proton-transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry during a multiweek residential monitoring campaign under normal occupancy conditions. Results indicate high emissions of nearly 100 VOCs and other species in the bedroom during sleeping periods as compared to the levels in other rooms of the same residence. Air change rates for the bedroom and, correspondingly, emission rates of sleeping-associated VOCs were determined for two bounding conditions: (1) air exchange between the bedroom and outdoors only and (2) air exchange between the bedroom and other indoor spaces only (as represented by measurements in the kitchen). VOCs from skin oil oxidation and personal care products were present, revealing that many emission pathways can be important occupant-associated emission factors affecting bedroom air composition in addition to direct emissions from building materials and furnishings.
