Kim 2001 - “Concentrations and Sources of VOCs in Urban Domestic and Public Microenvironments”

Kim, Young Min; Harrad, Stuart; Harrison, Roy M.
“Concentrations and Sources of VOCs in Urban Domestic and Public Microenvironments”
Environmental Science and Technology
March 15, 2001; v.35, n.6; pp.997-1004
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Concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured in a wide range of urban microenvironments (including homes, offices, shops, roadsides, buses, trains, and cars) in Birmingham, UK.  Of transportation microenvironments, cars had the highest mean concentrations of most of the VOCs measured; however the automobiles in the study were over 10 years old and smoking occurred in 6 of them during sampling.

Mean concentrations (st.dev.) of VOCs in different microenvironments

VOC	Homes	Offices	Roads	Cars	Trains	Buses
1,3-butadiene	1.1 (1.9)	0.3 (0.2)	1.8 (0.9)	7.9 (4.7)	1.0 (0.6)	1.7 (0.9)
Benzene	13.9 (13.8)	5.9 (2.3)	49.6 (22.4)	203.7 (152.3)	24.3 (35.8)	20.2 (7.8)

High VOC concentrations were also found in pubs and train stations.

On average VOC concentrations were higher indoors than outdoors and this study found no correlation between simultaneously measured indoor and outdoor concentrations, especially in poorly-ventilated buildings and smoking households.

Household sources of VOCs include outdoor vehicle exhaust emissions, smoking, cooking, and solvents.

See related article and Supporting Information by Kim et al. (2002) “Levels and Sources of Personal Inhalation Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds.”