Performance Evaluation of Infrared Bake-Out for Reducing VOCs and Formaldehyde Emission in MDF Panels

Building materials can release a wide range of pollutants, particularly the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde, which can cause indoor air related health problems. Bake-out technology is a cost-efficient method to reduce emissions of toxic substance from building materials in residential housing units. The temperature rise and the bake-out performance of MDF panels were evaluated in this work with three types of infrared radiation apparatus. Each MDF panel was radiated from three types of infrared radiation apparatus over 24 hours. The temperature was confirmed using data logging equipment according to elapsed time of infrared radiation. The formaldehyde emission was analyzed by desiccator method. In addition, thermal extractor (TE) analysis was used to determine the effect of NIR radiation on elapsed time. From the results it was determined that the NIR radiation method can be regarded as an effective way to transfer heat from material’s surface to the other side. Furthermore, the bake-out performance confirmed that the NIR radiation had a significant effect on reducing the formaldehyde concentration within a short period of radiation time.