Validation of the surface sink model for sorptive interactions between VOCs and indoor materials

Adsorption and desorption by indoor surface materials can have significant impacts on the level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) indoors. The surface sink model (SSM) was developed to account for these interactions in an indoor air quality model. Two types of scale-up experiments were conducted to validate the SSM that was developed based on small-scale chamber experiments. Conflicting results were obtained from a large-scale laboratory experiment and a field test. From the large-scale laboratory experiment involving three materials and three chemicals, relatively good agreement was observed between measurements and predictions by the SSM. In contrast, the level of sorption in the field test was observed to be at least 9 times greater than was predicted by the SSM.