Eddy Goelen

Urban benzene and population exposure

Benzene pollution emanating from motor traffic can cause leukaemia, with the risk being estimated at about four cases per million among people who experience lifelong exposure to benzene concentrations of 1 μg m−3 in air. But we show here that personal exposure, and therefore risk estimates, cannot simply be estimated from environmental concentrations of benzene. Using a new sampling device that monitors both of these parameters, we have discovered that people living in different European cities are exposed to concentrations of benzene that may be twice as high as the urban average.

Olfactory, chemical and e-nose measurements to characterize odors emission of construct materials for the implementation of the European construction products directive (CPD) on a Belgian level

Standardization work on test methods for dangerous substances in the field of construction products is currently ongoing at European level in CEN/TC 351 and EOTA PT9. A Belgian research project, with three partners, is going on to optimize current evaluation methods for VOCs (including SVOCs and VVOCs). This project examines also methods for the determination of particle emission from building materials, methods for evaluating the microbial resistance and also methods for odors determination. Different products like flooring materials are placed in three emissions chambers of different sizes (each partner has its own emission chamber) to evaluate their VOC’s emission. Chemical analyses are performed by all the partners following the ISO‐16000 standard series (by TD‐GC‐MS). This paper presents first results of ongoing odor measurements with sensory methods and e‐nose. Keywords: e‐nose, tin oxide sensors, drift, environmental application.