The Study of Carbonyl Emissions and Ozone Removal on Green Recycled Building Materials

Abstract

Yu-Hsiang Cheng, Chi-Chi Lin and Kai-Jyun Ke

Green recycled building materials (GRBMs) have the potential to reduce carbon footprint but with insufficient emission information. The increasing application of GRBMs may affect human health due to potential primary and/or secondary emissions. This study centers on assessing carbonyl emissions and ozone removal on green recycled building materials under ozone exposure circumstances. Tested materials include gypsum board (GB), waterproof gypsum board (WGB), fiber cement board (FCB), and calcium silicate board (CSB). Among all the observed carbonyls, methacrolein and formaldehyde were the only two that could be found on all four recycled building materials. All carbonyl compounds had relatively high emission factors at the beginning of the experiment and decreased to a relatively lower level one month later. Carbonyl emissions were about 33.3%, 38.9%, 42.0%, and 8.0% of their original values for WGB, FCB, CSB, and GB, respectively. The ozone removal efficiencies at the beginning and one month later were 63.26±6.11% and 61.59±5.46% on CSB, 55.74±4.94% and 47.16±7.97% on FCB, 54.59±6.50% and 34.93±6.77% on GB, and 53.63±8.40% and 23.49±6.63% on WGB, respectively. CSB seems to be a healthier recycled building material compared with WGB, GB, and FCB in terms of low carbonyl emissions and high ozone removal efficiency.

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