Research On Some Key Problems In Labeling Of VOC Emissions From Furniture

Furniture which can emit volatile organic compouds is one of the chief causes ofindoor air pollution. In European countries and the U.S., a series of furniture labelingsystems were established to control volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissionsources with good effect. China should learn from these labeling systems. HoweverChina should not simply copy the foreign approaches but fully consider Chinesespecial features when developing its own labeling system. There are some keyproblems in labeling of VOCs emissions from furniture in China. Some aremechanistic or technical problems, while others are management issues. This thesisstudied the addressed problems and the main academic contributions are as follows:Firstly, it was pointed out that testing time of the existing labeling systems wastoo long (7–28days) which is unsuitable for a large number of furniture tests in China.Studies were carried out in order to give application guide of C-history method whichtakes only3days for furniture labeling. Through model calculation it was known thathow much impact closed chamer performances including background concentration,air leakage rate, sink effect, air mixing level and air velocity, had on C-historymethod which is used to determine key parameters including initial emittableconcentration, diffusion coefficient and partition coefficient of VOCs emissions fromfurniture. Based on these studies, performance requirements of closed chamber wereproposed. Testing method of air mixing level of closed chamber was developed, andremedy method for air leakage of closed chamber was also developed.Secondly, standard emission source method was developed which could be usedto test the recovery of VOCs emissions in the chamber using liquid-inner tublediffusion-film-emission (LIFE) reference. According to uncertainty theory,uncertainties of LIFE reference, chamber, sampling link and chemical analysis link ofVOCs could be evaluated. Thus, uncertainty components which could affect theoverall test result and their contribution rates were obtained. On the basis of the aboveanalysis, methods reducing test error were proposed. These research works could provide guidance for developing test error requirements of each link in the testexperiment.Thirdly, this paper explored the main factors which could affect certificationtype of furniture labeling. These factors were risk level of product, feasibility ofpolicy, industry and market situation including producer’s situation, consumer’ssituation and dealer’s situation. Cosidering these five factors as indexes, compulsorycertification of furniture labeling and voluntary certification of furniture labeling werescored. Multiattribute decision making model was used to calculate the weightedsums of compulsory certification and voluntary certification simultaneouslyconsidering weight coefficients of each index. Research result showed that furniturelabeling should be compulsory certification in China.Finally, on the basis of study and analysis of key technologies and certificationpolicy, implementation scheme of furniture labeling certification was proposed,which would offer reference for carrying out labeling of VOCs emissions fromfurniture in China.