Berkeley Analytical Successfully Passes 2021 German BAM Round-Robin Test for VOC Emissions

Berkeley Analytical is pleased to announce that it successfully participated in the 2021 international, round robin study organized by BAM (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing), Berlin, Germany. The objective of the BAM study, RR-VOC-O-BAM-2021 was to access the proficiency of laboratories for measuring the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from product samples using environmental test chambers. Since Berkeley Analytical successfully participated in all five prior BAM studies beginning in 2009, it is ranked as an Expert Lab by BAM. For the latest study, there were 55 participating laboratories. The large majority of these laboratories are based in the EU. Notably, Berkeley Analytical was the ONLY participant from the U.S. and the Americas.

For the chamber test method, BAM sent Petri dishes with a cured lacquer finish that had been spiked with known amounts of 12 VOCs plus two chemicals that were sources of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. There were two duplicate source samples which were exposed in small-scale chambers at a defined area-specific airflow rate. The participants were asked to make five replicate measurements of the VOCs on day seven after initiating the tests and to report the VOC concentrations quantified using pure standard calibrations as toluene equivalents following ISO 16000-6. The analyses of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde by ISO 16000-3 were optional.

Again, Berkeley Analytical received a high passing grade. For the required VOCs, Berkeley Analytical reported 11 compounds with excellent z-scores, mostly less than ±1. Berkeley Analytical also successfully measured formaldehyde and acetaldehyde with excellent z-scores. Berkeley Analytical uses this interlaboratory study as an essential component of its quality management system to demonstrate the validity and to estimate the measurement uncertainty of its VOC emission test results. Based on the results for RR-VOC-O-BAM-2021, Berkeley Analytical continues to qualify as a testing laboratory for the German Blue Angel product certification program, the Finnish M1 Emission Classification of Building Materials Protocol, and IKEA IOS-MAT-0010, Emission of Volatile Substances. Contact us to request a copy of RR-VOC-O-BAM-2021.