Reduction of VOC emission from natural flours filled biodegradable bio-composites for automobile interior

Various experiments, such as the thermal extract (TE) method, field and emission cell (FLEC) method and 20L small chamber, were performed to examine the total volatile organic compound (TVOC) emissions from bio-composites. The TVOC of neat poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was ranged from 0.26mg/m2h to 4.11mg/m2h with increasing temperature. For both PLA bio-composites with pineapple flour and destarched cassava flour, the temperature increased from 0.30mg/m2h to 3.72mg/m2h and from 0.19mg/m2h to 8.74mg/m2h, respectively. The TVOC emission factors of all samples increased gradually with increasing temperature. Above 70°C, both PLA-P and PLA-C composites had higher TVOC emission factors than neat PLA due to the rapid emission of natural volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as furfural (2-furancarboxyaldehyde). PLA composites containing 30wt% flour had high 1,4-dioxane reduction ability, >50%. The TVOC of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) was emitted rapidly from 50°C to 90°C due to succinic acid from the pyrolysis of PBS. The TVOC emission factors of PLA bio-composite and PBS bio-composites were reduced using the bake-out method (temperature at 70°C and baking time 5h). The initial TVOC emission factors of the PLA and PBS bio-composites with pineapple flour and destarched cassava flour were reduced by the baking treatment using FLEC. The TVOC factors from PLA and PBS decreased until 5 days and were commonly maintained a relatively constant value after 5 days using 20L small chamber. The decrease in TVOC emission showed a similar trend to that of the TE and FLEC method. This method confirmed the beneficial effect of the baking treatment effect for polypropylene and linear density polyethylene (LDPE).