Bak. Andrews et Bj. Traskmorrell, LONG-TERM FORMALDEHYDE EMISSIONS FROM DMDHEU-FINISHED COTTON FABRICS, Textile chemist and colorist, 29(6), 1997, pp. 16-19
Monitoring the emission of formaldehyde has become important for the A
merican textile industry as the formaldehyde levels in textiles are lo
wered to meet stringent regulatory standards on formaldehyde in air. B
ecause there was little information available documenting the decay of
the available formaldehyde with time, research was initiated to estab
lish formaldehyde emission profiles for durable press finishes over se
veral days. The finishes were all from commercial sources and were bas
ed on dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea (DMDHEU), either as the unmodifi
ed agent or as the methylated or glycolated derivative. In general, em
ission patterns were similar for all of the finishes studied; however,
maximum emissions reflected the positive influence of control options
used by the industry for reduction of formaldehyde. Agent modificatio
n through methylation or glycolation produced reductions in maximum em
issions. Increasing the ratio of methanol to DMDHEU in methylation dec
reased the maximum emission. Time-weighted averages also showed the in
fluence of control options.