E0, European standard or American standard, who has the highest requirements?

When you order cabinets and choose flooring, have you ever been confused by various environmental certifications? E0 grade, Japanese F4 star, American Carb-2, formaldehyde-free board, ecological board and original board. Who has the strictest restrictions on formaldehyde release? ?

When buying latex paint, there is this Blue Angel, that Flower of Europe, and a Green Guard. Who has the most stringent requirements for VOC testing? And, will we use highly radioactive materials in our homes? ?

After reading this article, you can get: ?

1. The most stringent and safe VOC standard. ?

2. The most stringent and safe formaldehyde standard. ?

3. Materials that are highly radioactive and harmful to the human body are basically not used at home. ?

If you want to skip the large sections of popular science on pollutants and references to national standards, please drag it directly to the end of the article to read the lazy summary~?

How to keep VOCs out? ?What are VOCs? ?

VOC, or Volatile Organic Compounds, contains benzene, toluene, xylene and other toxic and harmful substances that easily evaporate into the air at room temperature and can cause leukemia and cancer. Important reasons. ?

According to the definitions of different countries and international organizations, some count formaldehyde as a type of VOC, while others believe that the two should be treated differently. In addition, there are many international standards for formaldehyde, and the testing instruments for the two are also different. Therefore, in this article, we separate VOC and formaldehyde. ?

What are the domestic regulations on VOC? ?

Most VOCs are easily soluble in organic solvents but not in water. Various organic solvents are used in the construction process of paint, which contains a large amount of VOCs. Nowadays, interior decoration is basically water-based paint, using water instead of organic solvents, which greatly reduces the VOC content. ?

In the mandatory national standard GB18582-2008 "Limits of Hazardous Substances in Interior Decoration Materials and Interior Wall Paints", the VOC content in water-based coatings is ≤120g/L. ?

△VOC content in water-based coatings ≤120g/L is a national mandatory standard. Friends who are interested in the full text can check the picture source on the /bzgk/gb/ national standard full text disclosure system: GB18582- 2008 "Limits of Hazardous Substances in Interior Decoration Materials and Interior Wall Paints"?

The inspection of mandatory national standards is relatively strict. Generally, manufacturers will use the method of commissioned inspection for self-testing, and send the samples to a third-party laboratory for inspection. ?

The national standard implements type inspection, that is, a dedicated person from the inspection agency randomly takes samples from the enterprise's finished product warehouse and seals all the products in the batch until the test results are released. This inspection method requires an inspection once a year to ensure the timeliness of the results. ?

Another indicator comes from China’s environmental labeling, which is the ten-ring certification (≤50g/L or ≤80g/L), which has stricter requirements for VOC content. The reference is HJ 2537-2014 "Technical Requirements for Environmental Labeling Products - Water-based Coatings" issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

△Picture source: HJ 2537-2014 "Technical Requirements for Environmental Labeling Products Water-based Coatings"?

How are VOCs regulated in foreign countries? ?

European and American countries have set many standards for formaldehyde. You can always see a string of environmental protection labels on imported paint cans. There are too many. Let’s take a quick look at them.

△A list of various VOC standards. Picture source: Homemade?

In addition to looking at national standards, are there other methods?

People who understand European and American standards As we all know, the national standard VOC ≤ 120g/L is actually not too high. Some companies' R&D and production levels are close to the world's first-class level, and they will entrust laboratories certified by CNAS (China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment) to submit their products for inspection. ?

The CNAS laboratory also tests according to the national standard GB18582-2008. If the VOC content of the sample is less than 2g/L, the test report will indicate "not detected".

△See the watermark in the source of the report issued by the CNAS laboratory?

Another internationally renowned notary firm, SGS (Swiss General Notary Firm), during the test based on GB18582, if the sample If the VOC content is ≤50g/L, it will also be marked with "VOC not detected". However, according to European and American standards, the meaning of "not detected" is different. ?

If you compare the more authoritative VOC certifications at home and abroad, the superiority will be obvious. Finnish M1 and French A are not included in the picture below due to different inspection methods.

△ Domestic and foreign VOC standards are arranged from high to low VOC content. The national standard has the highest VOC content. Although it is quite different from the international first-class standard, the undetected results of CNAS national laboratory are ranked Second, there are still high-standard picture sources in China: Homemade by Zhufaner

△The above are the mainstream paints that have received German Blue Angel, Finnish M1, French A, Green Guard Gold Level and European Flower. Brand image source: Homemade by Zhu Faner?

How much formaldehyde release is considered safe? ?

Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring organic compound with a volatilization point of -19°C. It is gaseous at room temperature and is a volatile organic compound. As the saying goes, there is no glue without formaldehyde. Materials with higher formaldehyde content are often materials with more glue, such as artificial boards, soft furnishings and textiles. ? The lower the formaldehyde content of the glue, the higher the cost. The most commonly used urea-formaldehyde resin glue on the market (Urea Formaldehyde) has high formaldehyde content and low cost, and has always been favored by manufacturers. MDI glue, which is known as "formaldehyde-free glue", does not contain formaldehyde as its main component, and its price is also very high. ?

Then the question is, from the consumer’s point of view, it is almost impossible to find out whether the merchant uses urea-formaldehyde glue, phenolic glue or formaldehyde-free glue. Just because it is expensive cannot prove that the glue is used properly. All right? Therefore, no matter how great the sales bragging is, without the endorsement of environmental protection labels, it is just bragging. ?

What are the domestic standards for formaldehyde? ?

Currently, in the mandatory national standard GB18580-2017, E1 level (≤0.124mg/m?) is the only formaldehyde emission standard.

△National Standard GB18580-2017 Source: National Standard Full Text Disclosure System?

There are three methods for measuring formaldehyde, namely the perforation extraction method, the dryer method and the climate chamber method. In the past, E0 level (≤0.5mg/L) was measured using the dryer method. However, after the new national standard switched to the 1m? climate chamber method, the past E0 level and the current E1 level cannot be compared horizontally, so the E0 level is no longer mentioned. ?

What are the foreign standards for formaldehyde? ?

Europe, the United States and Japan all have a set of formaldehyde standards. ?

The most demanding current standards are California’s CARB standard and Japan’s F4 star standard.

△Due to different inspection methods, horizontal comparison cannot be made. Source: Homemade?

The F4 star standard comes from the "Japanese Agricultural Standard Law" issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Japan. ,JAS). Among them, the formaldehyde release amount of F4 star is ≤0.4mg/L. It is tested using the dryer method. The concentration of formaldehyde dissolved in water is measured, so the unit (mg/L) is different from that in other countries.

△F4 star standard picture source: Official website of the Japan Plywood Inspection Group of the Public Welfare Foundation/?

Products that can obtain F4 star certification are usually sold to or imported from Japan. Very rare in China. If a product has F4 star certification, the factory must first obtain JIS certification. There are very few domestic factories that have obtained this certification, and they can all be found on the JIS official website. ?

Next time a salesperson tells you "Our composite flooring/plywood/density board is equivalent to Japan's F4 star standard", you can ask him or her to hand over the factory name or F4 star certificate.

?

It’s okay if you can’t remember the standard of △F4 star. It is extremely rare in China. Source: Japan Plywood Industry Association?

There are many formaldehyde standards in the United States, among which is the The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has the highest standards. ?

CARB implements four formaldehyde-related standards (from high to low) throughout California through the formulation of bills and large-scale licensing of laboratories: ?

●NAF (No added Formaldehyde, no formaldehyde)?

●ULEF (Ultra-low Emitting Formaldehyde, ultra-low formaldehyde emission)?

●CARB Phase 2 (≤0.05ppm) ?

●CARB Phase 1 (≤0.05ppm)?

As we mentioned earlier, the lower the formaldehyde content of the floor adhesive, the higher the cost. Artificial boards certified by NAF and ULEF fall into this category. Unless the air quality is very high, they have severe respiratory diseases or are allergic to formaldehyde, few people are willing to pay such a high price for the NAF and ULEF labels. ?

Man-made panels that have obtained CARB P2 and P1 certification are relatively affordable. The manufacturer uses formaldehyde-containing adhesives, but the formaldehyde content can be reduced through technical means to make them affordable for more people. ?

CARB P1 and P2 have the same formaldehyde emission (≤0.05ppm), but the inspection standards of P2 are more stringent.

△CARB P2 must be tested every quarter. The supplier of Zhufaner Yanzhi Revolution 2.0S series, Dayishu Flooring, a brand of Liangyou Group, has obtained CARB P2 certification. Source: Dayishu Yishu Flooring provides?

National standard, European standard, Japanese F4 star and California CARB cannot be compared horizontally due to different inspection methods. ?

The national standard E1 level (≤0.124mg/m?) is safe enough and easy to buy. ?

European standards, Japanese F4 stars and California CARB will impose many strict production and quality control requirements on the factory. The cost of factory upgrading and transformation is extremely high. Generally, only large export manufacturers will have European standard E1, Japanese F4 star and California CARB logo.

Can highly radioactive materials be found in homes? ?

Will natural stone be radioactive? We use a lot of marble and granite for walls and floors in our homes. Will we be harmed by radiation? ?

The National Stone Inspection Center has conducted radioactive tests on more than 100 domestic and imported marble samples commonly used in the market in the past 10 years. The results show that the radionuclide specific activity of all marble samples tested The average is 0.02, which is only 1/50 of the national standard Class A indicator.

△Marble mine picture source: VideoBlocks?

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine did not find any problems. Starting from January 1, 2009, marble and related products were transferred out. According to the "Legal Inspection Catalog", entry-exit inspection and quarantine supervision will no longer be implemented, that is, marble will no longer undergo mandatory radioactive inspection. ?

It can be seen that the radiation amount of natural stones that can be used in home decoration is very small, which is far lower than the national standard. Friends who like marble feel free to use it. ?

Finally, here’s a lazy version of the summary: ?

●Among the VOC standards, the top three winners are Blue Angel (≤1g/L), CNAS Laboratory Unknown Detected (≤2g/L) and Green Guard Gold Level (≤5g/L). ?

●Among the standards for formaldehyde, the national standard E1 level (≤0.124mg/m?) is sufficient. If you want to pursue a higher standard, you can try Japanese F4 star and American CARB P1 or P2. ?

●The radiation of natural marble used for home decoration is very small and can be ignored, and it is harmless to the human body.

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