Comparison of Air Pollution by VOCs Inside the Cabins of New Vehicles

Air composition inside the cabins of nine new vehicles of the same model, but with different interior equipments and materials used, was examined. Air samples were collected short after vehicles’ production date. None of the vehicle was driven before sampling. Air pollution was assessed on the basis of the concentration of different volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and total VOC. Since only new vehicles were under study, it can be stated that different VOCs, present in vehicle cabin, were emitted from interior materials. The main aim of the present work was to answer the question about the representativeness of collected air samples and intra-model variability of VOCs concentrations. Air samples were collected by an active method onto duplicate Carbograph 1TD and Tenax TA sorbents. VOCs were thermally desorbed and analyzed with the use of the TD-GC-FID/MS method. Quantitative and qualitative analyses as well as statistical calculations were performed. Total VOCs concentration ranged from 1.5 to 2.1 mg/m 3 in vehicles tested. About 200 different organic compounds were detected in each vehicle interior. Strong linear correlation was observed for concentrations of some kind of compounds.