MULTIVARIATE EVALUATION OF VOCS IN HOMES AND OFFICE BUILDINGS WITH AND WITHOUT KNOWN SBS COMPLAINTS

摘要

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were sampled in sixteen homes and nineteen office rooms in two pilot studies. In half of the homes/offices the inhabitants/workers suffered from sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms and in the other buildings no such symptoms were reported. The samples were analysed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography, and all individual compounds were included as variables in evaluations using multivariate techniques. Homes with and without SBS problems and offices with and without known SBS problems could be separated in multivariate plots (Coomans' plots and PLS-DA plots). This shows that multivariate evaluation of VOC data from buildings is a promising tool for separation of problem- and non-problem buildings. The TVOC values from problem buildings were not significantly different from TVOC values in non-problem buildings.