Abstract
Acetaldehyde is known to cause indoor air pollution of a living space. Though numerous emission sources of acetaldehyde have been previously reported in relation to indoor air quality, little consideration has been given to the influence of household refrigerator. Since considerable levels of acetaldehyde was previously found in the inner space of refrigerators, air leakage from inside air can be a potential source of acetaldehyde in indoor air of a living space. This study aimed to estimate contribution of acetaldehyde leaked from a household refrigerator to indoor air concentration in the living space based on distributions of inner concentration levels and air exchange rates of domestic refrigerators employing Monte Carlo method with 10,000 trials. The mean indoor air concentration of acetaldehyde in the living space resulted in 0.12 ug/m3 for a single life, and 0.67 ug/m3 for a family consisting of at least two members, which were much less than the odor threshold of acetaldehyde (2.7 g/m3) and indoor air quality guideline level (48 g/m3). The results showed the air leakage from the household refrigerator is not a significant factor for the air contamination by acetaldehyde. However, we should keep concern on the refrigerator as a potential source of chemicals other than acetaldehyde.
