Objectives To investigate the characteristics of formaldehyde emission from particleboard furniture

Methods An indoor environment of formaldehyde emission was simulated by loading particleboard in a test chamber The concentration of formaldehyde in the chamber and the inner space of particleboard furniture was tested Factors influencing the emission of formaldehyde from particleboard were explored, including the background concentration of formaldehyde in the environment, temperature, the capacity of loaded particleboard and ventilation rate; and the rule of formaldehyde distribution in the inner space of particleboard furniture was also investigated

Results The process of formaldehyde emission from particleboard was divided into fast emission, slow emission and saturated emission along with the time prolonging The concentration of formaldehyde was higher with the increase of temperature and loaded capacity, and the concentration of formaldehyde was lower with the increase of ventilation rate; which indicated that the concentration of formaldehyde in environment has an inhibitory effect on the emission of formaldehyde The highest concentration of formaldehyde emission from particleboard and from particleboard furniture was 4.6 and 24.7 times of the national standard, respectively The qualified rate of formaldehyde in the inner space of particleboard furniture was only 16.7%, and the exceeding rates of formaldehyde in 1~2 times, 2~3 times and more than 3 times of the national standard accounted for 20.0%, 30.0% and 33.3%, respectively

Conclusions The effects of temperature, humidity, ventilation and the concentration of formaldehyde in the environment on the emission of formaldehyde from block board were great.