Individual volatile organic compound prevalence and concentrations in 56 buildings of the building assessment survey and evaluation (BASE) study

Volatile organic compounds (VOCS) were measured in indoor and outdoor air at 56 randomly selected public and private office buildings across the USA as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation study (BASE). These VOC data and data on many other parameters associated with indoor air quality were collected to provide normative data on typical office buildings. Between the summer of 1995 and the winter of 1997-98, more than 200 VOC samples were collected on multisorbent samplers and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. These samples were collected at three indoor locations and at one outdoor location. Forty-eight VOCS were found indoors at quantifiable concentrations. Eight VOCS were found in all samples and an additional 26 VOCS were found in 81-99 % of the samples. Concentration frequency distributions are presented for the twelve VOC with the highest median indoor concentrations: acetone; toluene; d-limonene; m- & p-xylenes; 2-butoxyethanol; n-undecane; benzene; 1,1,1-trichloroetha.ne; n-dodecane; hexanal; nonanal; and n-hexane. Indoor VOC concentrations ranged from below the limit of detection to 450 pg/m3. Indoor/outdoor concentration ratios for the same VOCS are also presented. The results from this study provide normative data on VOCS in U.S. office buildings that can be used to compare to data from complaint buildings, to examine the relationships of VOCS tith other building factors collected in this study, to conduct risk assessments and to design more focused studies