The validation of a VOC diffusion sink model based on full-scale chamber test

Previous research on volatile organic compound (VOC) sorption by building materials shows that there are very few studies focusing on full-scale measurements and model validations. It is not clear whether existing sink models based on small-scale chamber tests can be up-scaled to full-scale environments. In this study, both small-scale and full-scale chamber experiments were conducted to validate a diffusion sink model using sorption parameters obtained by small-scale chamber experiments. A mixture of six compounds including ethylbenzene, decane, 1,2-diclorobenzene, undecane, benzaldehyde and dodecane on a carpet was tested. The results indicate that the full-scale chamber itself has negligible sink effect. The sorption strength of six compounds on the carpet in the full-scale chamber has been found significant except ethylbenzene. Good agreement is observed between full-scale chamber data and predicted results by the diffusion sink model, indicating that the sorption parameters obtained by small-scale chamber can be up-scaled to full-scale conditions.