Characterization of VOC emissions from an oriented strand board (OSB) by conventional chamber method and a VOC extraction method

This paper characterizes VOC emissions from the specimen of a commercial oriented strand board (OSB) panel by conventional chamber method and a VOC extraction method. Emissions of monoterpenes, aldehydes, ketones and other VOCs were quantified. Results show that predominant emitted VOCs are hexanal, pentanal, acetic acid, α-pinene and β-pinene. When the temperature was increased from room temperature (24°C) to high temperature (60°C), the extracted amounts of almost all quantified VOCs during the first 7-10 extraction cycles increased more than 3.5 times, formaldehyde being the biggest, around 25 times. However, after 10 extraction cycles, there were still significant amounts of VOCs left in the specimen under room temperature, except for α-pinene and β-pinene. The estimated initial VOC concentrations from the extraction method were compared with those estimated from a conventional small-scale chamber test.