LTR - Ep "67" - What Are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)?

In this "67th" ("6-7") episode, I discuss "Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)?"

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are carbon-based chemicals that vaporize into the air at room temperature, posing major concerns for indoor air quality, groundwater safety, and ground-level smog formation.

VOCs are the lighter parts of crude oils, refined fuels, paints and thinners, vanishes, air fresheners, glues and solvents.

These lighter portions are "volatile" because they quickly and easily convert from liquids to gases.  Once in the gas phase, they are very mobile and more easily inhaled from being in our breathing zone.  This is much more likely, in doors, where the air is not well ventilated.  

Common sources of VOCs are from the use of fuels, chemical solvents, cleaning supplies, varnishes and paints, glues, new carpet, air fresheners, cosmetics, nail polishes and removers and smoking and vaping.

VOCs are known to be carcinogenic, thus concern for human health and our environment.

While VOCs mainly travel in our air in gas form, they can also travel in water and be found trapped in soil.

As always, if you have a topic you would like us to discuss in a future podcast or a specific question you'd like us to address, please let us know by sending it into, CFator@LetsTalkRemediation.com.

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Transcript

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Hey there. Let's talk remediation. This is your host, Charles Fader, and it's this is our 67th episode. That's right, 67. This is our 67th episode of Let's Talk Remediation. And our 67th episode is brought to us by our ongoing sponsor, Hambi Environmental. Hambi Environmental is a manufacturer of field test kits for the immediate uh detection and quantification of petroleum hydrocarbons, uh PFAS and PFOS, and uh chlorides, uh, providing accurate results, efficient, fast results, and economical results. So thank you, Hambi Environmental, for your ongoing support of this podcast, Let's Talk Remediation, where we're trying to have a positive impact on the environmental remediation industry. And with that, let's get started with our 67, 67th episode of uh Let's Talk Remediation. And the topic for today is what are VOCs? Now, this uh topic uh kind of uh builds upon our 64th, 65th, and 66th episode, where in our 64th episode we talked about uh what are PCBs, and our 65th episode we talked about what are PAHs, and our 66th episode, what is meant by uh BTEX. And so in all of those episodes, we actually used the acronym VOCs. And so I said, okay, let's let's go uh with our 67th episode and talk about what VOCs are. So the reason why VOCs were mentioned in all those those previous um episodes of PCBs, PAHs, and BTAX is because VOCs are related. VOCs uh are included in those things. VOCs, VOC stands for volatile organic compounds, okay? Volatile organic compounds. That's the acronym VOCs. So volatile organic compounds are um chemicals that are light in nature. They are carbon-based chemicals and like uh hydrocarbons, and they uh they are light in nature, so they vaporize or they volatise into the air quickly. And so, you know, that's like when you when you pour gasoline out on the ground, that vapor smell that you smell, that is the VOCs. Those are the light portions of that liquid gasoline vaporizing uh into the air. And so that smell or that odor you get, that is what uh VOCs are. Now, VOCs are not just in the air, but they get in the air quickly because uh the transformation of the liquid, gasoline, diesel fuel, crude oil, those things, they all contain VOCs or volatile organic compounds. And at room temperature, uh they vaporize. Those are the light things that you know when those things are spilled out on the ground, the smell, um, the light pieces of those types of hydrocarbons volatize or evaporate into the air and they create gases. And that's sometimes you smell it, sometimes you don't. But it is that light nature that uh immediately uh vaporizes or changes form from the liquid into the gas, into the air, and those light portions are called VOCs, and they're volatile organic compounds. Volatile meaning they change form quickly from that liquid phase to the gas phase, okay? And so why are they such a concern? Well, that because uh particularly if they're indoor, it will affect the air quality that you breathe, right? And so it can cause dizziness and headaches and uh irritations to throat and nausea feeling, and it can affect your eyes and your nose burning. Um you know, so if it's indoors, it's a it's much stronger uh problem than if it's outdoors. Um VOCs can get into our groundwater, and uh, you know, they can create uh clouds of smog and and so you know what are some what are the common say sources of say VOCs? Well, I mentioned a few already, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, crude oil. Um, but also uh where it's the mainly problematic is like I said, indoors. So indoor uh products such as paints and cleaning supplies and cosmetics and air fresheners and um paints and varnishes, uh, and then also types of building materials that are used, uh whether it's carpets and glues and uh wood products, um new furniture, typically these uh omit uh some types of VOCs from them. And um, of course, you know, I I mentioned that the the other common sources are from the industrial side of things or uh the daily use uh affecting our environment, are like the gasoline and uh the different types of fuels, um uh emissions from uh the use of those fuels, such as cars uh and trucks, you know, the exhaust, uh dry cleaning plants have solvents that you use that omit uh VOCs. And I mentioned uh that you know, on the short-term exposure, you know, it could, you know, make your eyes itch or your nose itch, it can cause irrit or irritations in your throat and give you headaches and cause dizziness and drowsiness and cause uh nausea. Um but the law those are short-term uh effects from being uh subjected to VOCs. But long-term exposure can cause damage to your organs, like your and your nervous system, like your liver and your kidneys and your lungs. Um, so and ultimately in the end, you know, just like the other types of things we've talked about before, where the PCBs, the PAHs, and the BTEX items, um it they can be carcinogens, they can increase the uh chances of uh developing cancers. So, you know, the the main thing with VOCs is they are bad because they quickly and easily vaporize into the air from the liquid phase to the gas phase, and so they can be uh uh inhaled into our our systems and cause internal damage. Um and and again, it it can be liquid phase to gas phase, which happens pretty quickly, but it can also be where um fuels have been spilt into water, or in it can be gone through the soil into our groundwater, and then you know, those VOCs are still there because their VOCs are part of those types of things. And VOCs are found in all fuels and crude oils and and you know, and then of course, you know, like our daily use items, you know, like I said earlier, the cleaning supplies and the paints and the varnishes and stuff like that. And, you know, uh they require our attention because they affect the air that we breathe, right? And so, and and again, they have because they are parts of other petroleum hydrocarbons, VOCs are carcinogens, right? So they they can cause cancer. So VOCs are gases that are released every day into our environment from the products we use, whether it's for personal care or personal use or cleaning supplies and paints, and you know, and again, they cause irritations to our eyes and our throat, and they can cause headaches and nausea and dizziness and cause breathing issues and cause organ damage and their carcinogens and you know, so it's you know, obviously, I like I mentioned earlier, it is it's a much bigger issue when the VOCs are indoors because they can become trapped, right? So it's gonna force you to inhale these things versus if they were outdoors where they dissipate into the air much quickly and get away from our breathing zone. Um, so VOCs or volatile organic compounds, they can smell anything from a sharp chemical fume smell to even have a floral or citrus smell because you know um the things that we use uh indoors, uh the aerosols and such, um, those have VOCs in them. And so, and or they could actually have no odor at all. You couldn't even know that you're breathing them because you know they're they're colorless, they're gases at that when they when they change. Uh most common indoor VOCs are from the different materials that are used in the building process, fuels, solvents, uh, paint thinners, um the the smells of new furniture and new car smells, um then uh exhaust from gasoline use and burning or diesel use and burning. Uh nail polish removers can can have VOCs in them. Um and one of the you know, we we talked about in the last episode in the 66th episode, we talked about the BTEX, right? BTEX, that first letter in the acronym B stands for benzene, and benzene is one of the most uh uh common and the most uh dangerous, if you will, uh omitter of VOCs. Benzene is is dangerous because it's very volatile, uh and uh it it's a carcinogen, right? So it is benzene is one of the most toxic of the VOCs, but also um things like um uh something that comes to mind, vinyl chloride, which was from that train derailment up uh in um the northern part of the the US. Vinyl chloride was spilt in that train derailment, and vinyl chloride emits tons of VOCs and is not good for our our environment and our our health because it's omitting carcinogens, right? And so um again the the the most common sources of the release of VOCs or volatile organic compounds are paints and varnishes, cleaning household cleaning supplies, building materials, air fresheners, and stored fuels, and the burning or use of those fuels, um, you know, to for our our cars and trucks and that type of stuff. Anything where where it's burning is creating exhaust, um, you know, uh but you know, even things that we use to freshen the air, the scents, the the fragrances, the air fresheners, those things, those things uh omit VOCs. And so we need just to, you know, know that and be cognitive of that so that you know we limit our use of those things indoors. And although we're just trying to freshen up the air, you know, we need to realize that we really shouldn't be inhaling a lot of that because it's not good for us. So again, VOCs are they're carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate into the air, uh, changing from a liquid phase to a gas phase, and because they transfer so easily into the air, it is dangerous because we can inhale them. It's more dangerous indoors than outdoors because there's a whole lot more fresh air and wind outdoors to travel and keep those VOCs away from our breathing zones versus indoors where it's kind of stagnant and it's enclosed, and so it's much more dangerous. Uh, VOCs are for inhalation indoors than outdoors. But in any case, VOCs are known carcinogens that are not good for our health and can cause damage to our internal organs, and for that reason, we need to be cognizant of VOCs, their existence, where they are, make sure that if they're if they're being admitted indoors, it's ventilated and there's airflow, so that we can try to keep those things out of our breathing zone, away from our eyes, uh, so that we don't get irritations to our eyes and to our throat and do damage to our internal organs. So, but that was the topic for our 6-7. Our 67th episode of Let's Talk Remediation is what are VOCs? And again, VOCs stands for volatile organic compounds, they're compounds that uh are volatile, that means they change phases quickly and easily from uh liquid to gas, and they're volatile, right? So they're in all fuels and oils and uh crude oils and refined fuels, and there it's the light nature of them that allow them to quickly uh change form from liquid to gas, and they're very light, so they move quickly and easily, and for that reason, they can be inhalate uh inhaled into our breathing system, and so uh we need to be uh cognitive of their existence and when they're omitted and uh try to keep them out of our breathing zone. So that's the topic that I wanted to cover today. What are VOCs? Volatile organic compounds. Uh uh as I typically say towards the end of the episodes, if you have a topic you'd like for us to cover on a future podcast, don't hesitate to drop me an email or reach out at C Fader, that's C Frank A-T-O-R. Uh if you have a uh topic you'd like for us to address or a specific question you'd like for us to discuss, uh drop me an email and we'll get that covered on a future podcast. And with that, I thank you for tuning in. Um, thank you, Hambi Environmental, for your ongoing support of this podcast. Let's talk remediation, where we're trying to have a positive impact on the environmental remediation industry. And with that, I'm your host, Charles Fader, and I'm 6'7 out.