There is an increasing awareness of indoor air quality (IAQ) issues among the general public, and public health organizations and regulatory agencies are giving greater attention to IAQ. Given this environment, the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) and the Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA) undertook a project to develop a comprehensive protocol to test potential emissions from installed spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation to assess its potential impact on IAQ. SPF insulation is becoming increasingly popular for use in perimeter walls for both residential and commercial buildings. For the purpose of this project, several existing emissions testing protocols were first reviewed, and then a modified protocol was developed to be more specific to SPF and more comprehensive than existing protocols. To test/validate the protocol, two industry-representative foams were selected and tested by a third party laboratory in accordance with the developed protocol. At the time of the writing of this paper, the final results of the testing were not available. A report which includes a detailed data evaluation will be issued by the third party laboratory in the near future. After the report is completed, the emissions testing protocol will be finalized and made available so that each spray foam manufacturer can evaluate the potential emissions from their particular spray foam products.
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