Formaldehyde removal by the internal wall paint – preliminary study

Abstract

Formaldehyde is an important indoor air pollutant. It is released mainly from building materials and consumer products. This contaminant has been recognized as having negative effect on humans. Recently, there are developed methods of reducing its emission as well as removal from indoor air. An example of the last approach is the functionalisation of interior wall paints. The influence of such paint on indoor air was preliminarily examined in this work. The obtained results show that, during intermittent exposures, responses of formaldehyde measurement device were lower in the room painted with functionalised paint compared with the room painted using traditional formula paint. This outcome was statistically significant in 67% of the examined cases at the significance level α=0.01. It was found that the serious problem associated with determining the influence of functionalised paint on indoor air, in real conditions, is the low level of formaldehyde concentrations, compared with the detection limit and accuracy of the available measurement devices.