Abstract. The emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from
volatile chemical products (VCPs) – specifically personal care products,
cleaning agents, coatings, adhesives, and pesticides – are emerging as the
largest source of petroleum-derived organic carbon in US cities. Previous
work has shown that the ambient concentration of markers for most VCP
categories correlates strongly with population density, except for VOCs
predominantly originating from solvent- and water-borne coatings (e.g.,
parachlorobenzotrifluoride (PCBTF) and Texanol®, respectively). Instead, these enhancements were dominated by distinct emission events likely driven by industrial usage patterns, such as
construction activity. In this work, the headspace of a variety of coating
products was analyzed using a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass
spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS) and a gas chromatography (GC) preseparation
front end to identify composition differences for various coating types
(e.g., paints, primers, sealers, and stains). Evaporation experiments of
several products showed high initial VOC emission rates, and for the length
of these experiments, the majority of the VOC mass was emitted during the
first few hours following application. The percentage of mass emitted as
measured VOCs (<1 % to 83 %) mirrored the VOC content reported by
the manufacturer (<5 to 550 g L−1). Ambient and laboratory
measurements, usage trends, and ingredients compiled from architectural
coatings surveys show that both PCBTF and Texanol account for ∼10 % of the total VOC ingredient sales and, therefore, can be useful tracers for solvent- and water-borne coatings.
Watching Paint Dry: I/VOC Emissions from Architectural Coatings and their Impact on SOA Formation
