This study was undertaken to investigate the concentration of VOCs from newly built apartments in three cities (Suncheon, Yeosu, and Gwangyang) of Honam province in Korea. VOCs were sampled using canister and analyzed by GC/MSD. The result of the canister blank test showed that, most VOCs were not detected when 5 ppb was cleaned once and 10 ppb was cleaned with two times. In case of the replicate alalysis to check for the precision of GC/MSD, RSD values were found to be excellent at 6%. The upper floor of C apartment (25 pyong) showed the highest concentration of TVOCs at 3,235 ㎍/㎥. The average concentration of TVOCs was the highest in C apartment (25 pyong) as 1,833±1,217 ㎍/㎥. The average concentration of TVOCs in K (52 pyong) and S apartment (16 pyong) were 1,820±1,035 ㎍/㎥ and 498±71 ㎍/㎥, respectively. The I/O ratio of TVOCs were 8.99∼35.90 (mean : 25.99), 11.51∼35.43 (mean : 20.07) and 6.03∼7.90 (mean : 6.92) in K, C and S apartment, respectively. From these results, it is believed that the concentration of TVOCs was comparatively high in new apartment. Therefore, it is important to use low VOC emission materials to reduce the emission concentration of VOCs from in new apartment. It is hence necessary that a scientific study is performed to secure clean indoor air quality.

This study was undertaken to determine the concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the indoor air between houses of atopy, asthma patients and new houses. Total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) in the indoor and outdoor air of normal houses were measured as 92.6 and 72.5 ㎍/㎥, respectively. TVOCs in the indoor and outdoor air of atopy patient's houses were 152 and 42.1 ㎍/㎥. TVOCs in the indoor and outdoor air of asthma patient's houses was 165 and 50.1 ㎍/㎥. TVOCs in the indoor and outdoor air of new houses was 158 and 78.3 ㎍/㎥. It was found that the concentrations of VOCs were higher in the indoor air of atopy, asthma patient's and new houses than the normal houses. This suggests that the concentration of VOCs can influence atopy and asthma.

The removal efficiency of VOC was tested for five air cleaners selected in terms of type and cleaning performances. Toluene, representative VOCs, was selected and used as the test gas. In order to indicate toluene removal capacity, toluene removal efficiency in a chamber and a duct was investigated with different measurement devices such as gas detecting tubes and GC/MSD. Changes in toluene concentration in the chamber were measured with GC/MSD. The test results showed that the performances of the test models in the test chamber were superior to those in the duct, however, they did not differentiate the performances of test models. According to our test study, toluene removal capacity calculated from the changes in toluene concentration with time was a good indicator for VOCs removal performance.

This study was performed to investigate the characteristics of indoor air quality (IAQ) in elementary and middle schools in Gyeongbuk area from July to November 2006 . The measurements of indoor air pollutants were made to cover such components as PM-10, CO2, CO, NO2, O3, HCHO, TVOC, TBC, and Radon from school classrooms. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: all of them were less than IAQ standards of Korea. The mean concentration were measured by 43.0 ㎍/㎥ (PM-10), 745 ppm (CO2), 56.1 ㎍/㎥ (HCHO), 350 CFU/㎥ (TBC), 0.026 ppm (O3), 0.6 ppm (CO), and 59.2 ㎍/㎥ (TVOC). Radon was not detected in all surveyed classrooms. The I/O ratio of PM-10 was 0.8∼1.4, while that for HCHO was 5.7∼9.0. Therefore, it was concluded that the indoor pollution of formaldehyde was very serious in classroom.

This study was undertaken to investigate the distribution characteristics of the hazardous agents in indoor environment in 7 vessels in Incheon harbor from July to August, 2004. The measured parameters include several indoor air pollutants (PM10, CO2, HCHO, and TVOCs) and physical parameters (noise, vibration, temperature, and humidity). The levels of pollutants and hazardous components in vessels were compared with standards and guidelines of indoor air quality on the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Labor in Korea. The major results obtained from this study were as followed : The PM10 and CO2 levels in every vessel did not exceed the indoor air standard of 150 ㎍/㎥ and 1000 ppm, respectively. The level of PM10 showed a decreasing tendency as the weight of vessels is increased. The airbornce concentration of HCHO was the highest one by exceeding its standard in a 500 ton vessel. The noise level in engine room exceeded the workplace standard (90 dB(A)) recording above 100 dB(A). The TVOCs level in every engine room was more than its standard (500㎍/㎥). Based on our preliminary study of indoor air pollutants in vessels, it is suggested that long and middle term plan for the management of IAQ should be established through future investigation of vessels.

This study was carried out to evaluate the characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aldehydes emission as a function of airtight time in new apartment. Sampling was undertaken at 34 new apartments located in 4 different cities of Korea from February to November 2005. The measurement data were collected every one hour from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. toward increasing airtight time in a day. The concentrations of VOCs and aldehydes were analysed by GC/MS and HPLC method, respectively. These methods showed good sensitivity, linearity, and repeatability. In this study, the most abundant compounds at new apartments appeared to be toluene, m,p-xylene, formaldehyde and acetone. Moreover, the concentration variations at a closed rooms progressively increased by airtight time of 5 hours. Airtight time of new apartment was a most important and affective factor which influenced concentration change.

In architecture, constitutions of space are subjected to the structural material and interior finishing material. Interior environment can exert a great effect on people by means of space constitution. In this study the constitution of space was set to consider five materials: control, wood, steel, wire mesh, and concrete structural material. In this study, experiments with mice, were carried out on condition of each living environment with different living environment using control, wood, steel, wire mesh and concrete structural material. The experiments with mice were made by five-month-old mice(BALB/C) with about 15 grams weight. In order to evaluate the adaptability of the target mice, such variables as body weight, food consumption, and water consumption were monitored against living environment for normal BALB/C mice during the same period. The weight, total foods, and total water consumption were measured under the living environments for 55 days with 2~3 days intervals. To test five different living environments, i.e., control, wood, steel, wire mesh and concrete, 5 mice were allocated for each group. According to the results of this study, the case of wood living environment resulted in a gain in weight with statistical significance. The other side of steel, wire mesh and concrete showed a slight decrease for weight. The weight variation of the experimental mice was assumed under five different living environments that resulted from the stabilized environmental conditions such as the wood living environment.

Numerical simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was performed to calculate the predicted mean vote (PMV) based on velocity and temperature profiles of air in a partitioned office building. The office building (W:14.65 m, D:7.57 m, and H:2.63 m) was divided by partitions of 1.5 m height and shared by 7 office workers. Each person uses a personal computer and printer on a desk. One stand-type air conditioner was installed in the corner of the room and operated at the variable flow rate of 35 ㎥/min. In the case study, we assumed that the initial temperature of the room was 303 K and it was cooled down by operating air-conditioner. The outside temperature was fixed at 303 K and the heat flux through the windows was included in the calculation. Heat sources of personal computers, human bodies, fluorescent lamps, and refrigerator were considered. The temperature and PMV values were also calculated to asses the thermal comfort of each person by operating time of air conditioner. It was found that the thermal comfort could be improved by changing the angle of diffuser grill of air conditioner.

Ozone has become a significant pollutant not only outdoors but also indoors. The ozone emission test was conducted for the sum of forty five air cleaners selected in the online shops and department stores. Negative ion emission test was also conducted for the selected fifteen ones which had the function to generate negative ions. Filter-type and complex type air cleaners emitted ozone less than 0.05 ppm, the standard of indoor ozone emission of air cleaner. Wet type ones emitted no ozone. In the case of ionizer type, 66.7% in the nine ones emitted ozone about 1.4~10 times larger than 0.05ppm. Most of air cleaners used a pin corona discharge emitted large amount of ozone. Those which used carbon fiber emitted little ozone in spite of generating a lot of negative ions.