VOC Emissions In Furniture & Paint Coating

VOC or Volatile organic compounds are emitted in significant quantities from different furniture units coated with paint coating, solvents, varnishes, and waxes. It has been seen that furniture units made from solid wood and wood composites play a significant role in the emission of VOC.

They have an adverse effect on the human body and are directly related to several health risks. In simple words, VOCs are lipid-soluble compounds that can easily pass through the blood-brain barrier resulting in neurologically adverse health impacts.

While several new technological developments in furniture finishing have resulted in stylish furniture units, it is a real fact that they can lead to indoor air pollution. All designers, producers, and consumers are much concerned about furniture products' aesthetics, cost, durability, and functionality. But the issue regarding chronic VOC exposure from furniture must be addressed.

Mainly solid wood and wood panels are used for manufacturing furniture units. The surface of the furniture is coated with various kinds of finishing that include lacquers, varnishes, resin impregnated papers, along with overlays and high-pressure laminates. Most of these finishes consist of terpenes, aldehydes, and aromatic hydrocarbons.

Know about the adverse health impacts of VOCs:

Various chemicals utilized for wood furniture finishing are phthalates, heavy metals, flame retardants, and VOCs. Phthalate kinds of plasticizers and flame retarding compounds are released from furniture units. A recent study has proven that dimethyl esters of succinic, adipic, and glutaric from some of the wooden furniture coatings were found, and it was thus concluded that they are emerging air pollutants. And also, it has been seen that all these esters result in degenerating the olfactory system that impacts the sense of smell.

It seems that VOCs emitted from furniture units and their possible health impacts on children and adults must be considered for raising awareness and shielding human health. Children are mainly affected and are sensitive because of their weak immune systems.

Let us know how it affects children:

●       It affects their physical and cognitive development.

●       With low body weight and fast breathing, they are affected more by the chemical substances present in the air.

●       In children, the metabolizing capacity is prolonged, for which many chemicals stay in their bodies for a long time.

●       A large number of the chemical can imitate hormones, for which they hurt both the endocrine and developing systems.

So, keeping all these concerns in view, it is essential to control VOC emission by the authorities to protect adult and child health. All these regulations are also suitable for controlling odor present indoors. It is often recommended to ventilate all rooms as one of the primary precautions for decreasing VOC emission. Determination of the emitted VOC substance and the level of emission for various kinds of materials and development of standard methods and techniques for detecting VOC emission and developing a VOC removal system are essential for controlling their effect on human health.