A partial building bake-out was performed in U.S. EPA's new Region IX Headquarters' Building in San Francisco, California in July, 1990. The intent of the bake-out was to reduce indoor air contaminant concentrations associated with residual volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in a variety of common building materials and finishing agents. Four nearly identical floors from the 21 story office building were heated above 30 C for 34, 38, 54, and 86 hours to determine the effect of bake-out duration on post-bake pollutant concentrations. VOC and aldehyde sampling was conducted before, during, and after the bake-out. The results indicate that total volatile organic compound (TVOC) source strengths were reduced during the bake-out by 45-76%. Similar reductions in targeted VOC source strengths were also observed from the pre-to post-bake monitoring periods. While the most abundant aldehyde species concentrations increased approximately 65% during the mid-bake monitoring period, post-bake aldehyde concentrations remained similar to pre-bake levels.

"91-62.3" Presented at the annual meeting of the Air and Waste Management Association (84th), Vancouver, B.C. (Canada), June 16-21, 1991. Prepared in cooperation with Research Triangle Inst., Research Triangle Park, NC. Dreyfus Lab., and Certified Health Services, Richmond, CA.