| |
| author |
Virginia Gaylord
| | title |
Impacts of Pine- and Lemon-Based Cleaners on Indoor Air Quality
| | abstract |
Common household cleaning products contain organic compounds, such as terpenes, that
react with ozone to produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs often have negative
effects on indoor air quality. This study investigated VOCs formed from reactions of two
commercially available cleaners containing terpenes (a pine-based cleaner and a lemon-based
cleaner) with ozone to determine how these reactions affect indoor air quality in both the gas and
thin film phases. To monitor gaseous products of reactions between ozone (in the gaseous state)
and multi-phase VOCs, a laminar flow reactor was coated in each of these cleaners and exposed
to ozone via an ultraviolet lamp connected to the reactor, with a Fourier transform infrared
spectrophotometer (FTIR) continuously monitoring the reactions and an ozone monitor
continuously recording ozone concentrations. IR spectra revealed that the pine-based cleaner and
ozone reaction yielded several VOCs containing hydrocarbon, carbonyl, and alcohol functional
groups. The VOCs from this reaction differed over the course of the reaction, with at least two
distinct products observed, one of which is 2,2,4-Trimethyl-3-oxovaleraldehyde. The IR spectra
from the reaction of the lemon-based cleaner with ozone showed VOCs containing hydrocarbon
and carbonyl functional groups that matched the original spectrum of the lemon-based cleaner
without ozone. This reaction did not result in a new product, but the presence of ozone enhanced
the release of compounds already present. The reactive uptake coefficient for ozone loss on the
pine-based cleaner (calculated from ozone concentrations during each reaction) was
approximately 1.4 x 10-5 upon first exposure to the cleaner and 4.5 to 5.62 x 10-6 after 40 minutes
of exposure and did not change at different relative humidity levels. For the lemon-based cleaner,
the initial reactive uptake coefficient of ozone was approximately 1.25 to 1.48 x 10-5 upon and 6
to 6.25 x 10-6 after 40 minutes of exposure. No significant difference was observed in reactivity
with ozone between the lemon- and pine-based cleaners. These results show that use of terpene-
containing cleaning products leads to VOC production and thus negatively impacts indoor air
quality.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.S. (2022)
|
| advisor |
Ryan Hinrichs
|
| committee |
Mary-Ann Pearsall
Stephen Dunaway
|
| full text | VGaylord.pdf |
| |
