Emission rates of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from human beings: breath, skin and whole body characterizations

Human beings are a potent mobile source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the indoor environment. Several hundred VOCs are known to enter the air via breath and dermal emission (de Lacy Costello et al. 2014). Certain VOC species react rapidly with oxidants present in ambient air (e.g. ozone or OH radicals), producing multiple secondary VOCs, some of which have adverse effects on human health (Wolkoff et. al. 2013).

VOC concentrations associated with human emissions have been reported from various indoor environments using online and offline techniques (Stönner et. al., 2018, He et. al. 2019). However, a comprehensive chemical characterization of human emission rates as a function of ozone is lacking. This study is a part of the Indoor Chemical Human Emissions and Reactivity (ICHEAR) project, which attempts to quantify the emission rates of human VOCs from breath, skin and whole body under controlled conditions.