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BAKE-OUT OF A PORTION OF A NEW HIGH-RISE OFFICE BUILDING
Citation:
Lindstrom, A.B., R. Raft, L. Michael, AND M. Oberg. BAKE-OUT OF A PORTION OF A NEW HIGH-RISE OFFICE BUILDING. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/D-91/104 (NTIS PB91196048).
Description:
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 degrees C for 34, 38, 54, and 86 hours to determine the effect of bake-out duration on post-bake pollutant concentrations. OC 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.