Emissions of organophosphate and brominated flame retardants from selected consumer products and building materials

The emissions of selected flame retardants were measured in 1- and 0.02-m3 emission test chambers and 0.001-m3 emission test cells. Four product groups were of interest: insulating materials, assembly foam, upholstery/mattresses, and electronics equipment. The experiments were performed under constant environmental conditions (23°C, 50% RH) using a fixed sample surface area and controlled air flow rates. Tris (2-chloro-isopropyl)phosphate (TCPP) was observed to be one of the most commonly emitted organophosphate flame retardants in polyurethane foam applications. Depending on the sample type, area-specific emission rates (SERa) of TCPP varied between 20 ng m−2 h−1 and 140 μg m−2 h−1. The emissions from electronic devices were measured at 60°C to simulate operating conditions. Under these conditions, unit specific emission rates (SERu) of organophosphates were determined to be 10–85 ng unit−1 h−1. Increasing the temperature increased the emission of several flame retardants by up to a factor of 500. The results presented in this paper indicate that emissions of several brominated and organophosphate flame retardants are measurable. Polybrominated diphenylethers exhibited an SERa of between 0.2 and 6.6 ng m−2 h−1 and an SERu of between 0.6 and 14.2 ng unit−1 h−1. Because of sink effects, i.e., sorption to chamber components, the emission test chambers and cells used in this study have limited utility for substances low vapour pressures, especially the highly brominated compounds; hexabromocyclododecane had an SERa of between 0.1 and 29 ng m−2 h−1 and decabromodiphenylether was not detectable at all.