Home
	Calendar
	Research IR-Laser Spectroscopy Atmosphere Medicine
	Events
	Members
	Publications
	Links
	Contact

*: these pages are only available in the german version

print version

Formaldehyde pollution

Formaldehyde is a prominent carcinogenic pollutant in the atmosphere. It is formed as a result of photochemical oxidation and it is also released directly into the atmosphere. Photochemical oxidation is the largest source of formaldehyde in the atmosphere and it accounts for about 70 to 90 percent of the formaldehyde found in the atmosphere depending on location. Formaldehyde is also released from cars when incomplete combustion occurs and from fuel combustion at oil refineries. Natural sources of formaldehyde are forest fires, animal wastes, and plants.

Due to the excitation of the C-H stretching vibration the formaldehyde molecule shows a characteristic fingerprint in the mid-infrared. Using the advantages of our CALOS method we achieve a detection limit of 5 ppb formaldehyde in ambient air (sampling time: 2 s).