Formaldehyde in the Indoor Environment

s Service (CAS). In 1944, Walker published the first edition of his classic work Formaldehyde.1 Between 1900 and 1930, formaldehyde-based resins became important * Author for correspondence. Address: Fraunhofer-Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut (WKI), Department of Material Analysis and Indoor Chemistry, Bienroder Weg 54 E, 38108 Braunschweig, Germany. Phone: +49-531-2155-350. Fax: +49-531-2155-905. E-mail: [email protected]. † Fraunhofer Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut (WKI). ‡ Hacettepe University. Chem. Rev. 2010, 110, 2536–2572 2536 10.1021/cr800399g  2010 American Chemical Society Published on Web 01/12/2010 adhesives for wood and wood composites. The first commercial particle board was produced during World War II in Bremen, Germany. Since 1950, particle board has become an attractive alternative to solid wood for the manufacturing of furniture. Particle board and other wood-based panels were subsequently also used for the construction of housing. Adverse health effects from exposure to formaldehyde in prefabricated houses, especially irritation of the eyes and upper airways, were first reported in the mid-1960s. Formaldehyde emissions from particle boards bonded with urea formaldehyde resin were soon identified as the cause of the complaints. As a consequence, a guideline value of 0.1 ppm was proposed in 1977 by the former German Federal Agency of Health to limit human exposure in dwellings. Criteria for the limitation and regulation of formaldehyde emissions from wood-based materials were established in 1981 in Germany and Denmark. The first regulations followed in the United States in 1985 or thereabouts. In Germany and the United States, large-scale test chambers were used for the evaluation of emissions. Although the chamber method is very reliable, it is also time-consuming and expensive. This meant there was a strong demand for simple laboratory test methods.2 1.2. Formaldehyde as a Priority Indoor Pollutant Discussion about formaldehyde as a possible carcinogen started in 1980 when the carcinogenicity of formaldehyde in rats and mice after long-term inhalation exposure was reported.3,4 These publications and the results of studies of human exposure assessment for formaldehyde triggered an avalanche of scientific work as well as stories in the yellow press. Although electronic databases and powerful search engines are now available, it is still difficult to survey all papers in the technical and medical literature. Notwithstanding this, formaldehyde is definitely the most common and the best-known indoor air pollutant. Over the years, the release of formaldehyde from building products has been decreasing. On the other hand, formaldehyde concentrations in ambient air are increasing continuously, especially in the urban environment. For this reason, formaldehyde slipped out of the primary focus of indoor research in the 1990s, although special formaldehyde-related events occasionally come to the attention of the general public. Well-known examples are reports about increased Tunga Salthammer was born in Braunschweig, Germany, in 1960. He holds a diploma degree in chemistry (1986) and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry (1990) from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. In 1989, he conducted research at the Physics Department of Strathclyde University in Glasgow, U.K. He joined the Fraunhofer Wilhelm-KlauditzInstitute (WKI) in 1990, where he currently serves as head of the Department of Material Analysis and Indoor Chemistry. From 2003 to 2009, he was a Professor of Indoor Hygiene at the University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel. Since 2007, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. In June 2008, he received his state doctorate from the Technical University of Braunschweig. He was a Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby (2006-2007) and at the Tsinghua University of Beijing, China (May 2007). He is a member of the Indoor Air Hygiene Commission of the German Federal Environment Agency. His research interests include analytical chemistry, VOC/SVOC emission studies on indoor materials using test chambers and cells, indoor chemistry, airborne particles, and settled dust. Sibel Mentese was born in 1981 in Turkey. She received her B.S. degree in environmental engineering at Dokuz Eylül University in 2002, where she worked with Prof. Dr. Aysen Muezzinoglu. She obtained her M.S. degree in environmental engineering at Hacettepe University in 2004. She worked on the determination of residential formaldehyde levels for her M.S. thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Gulen Gullu. In the same year, she commenced her Ph.D. degree in the same department, where she also started to work as a research assistant. She also received an M.A. degree in environmental economics at Ankara University in 2007. In the same year, she was awarded a scholarship by the Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey to conduct a project with Prof. Dr. Tunga Salthammer at the Fraunhofer WKI research center in Germany. In 2009, she received her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at the Hacettepe University on indoor air quality. Rainer Marutzky was born in Halle, Germany, in 1947. From 1968 to 1972, he studied chemistry at the Technical University of Braunschweig. In 1975, he received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and enzyme kinetics. In 1976, he joined the Fraunhofer Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institute of Wood Research in Braunschweig as a research officer. In 1989 he became the director of the institute. Since 1996, he has been an Associate Professor of Wood Chemistry at the Technical University in Braunschweig. He has been engaged in formaldehyde research and testing for more than 30 years. Other research interests include wood combustion, wood-based panel recycling, and adhesive chemistry. He is the convener of the European standard committee for formaldehyde and other regulated dangerous substances. Formaldehyde in the Indoor Environment Chemical Reviews, 2010, Vol. 110, No. 4 2537