GB ××××× —××××  
ICS 97.  160 
W 09  
 
 
National Standard for the People’s Republic of China  
GB ××××× —××××  
 
 
 
 
Household  textile s — the limits of volatile organic compounds  
 
 
 
(Draft for Approval )  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Release d on ××/××/××××                                   Imple mented on ×× /××/× ××× 
Issued by  
 
General Administration of Quality Supervision,  
Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China  
Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China  GB ××××× —××××  
 
Introduction  
 
Appendix A of this standard is a guideline. Appendix B is for information . 
This standard is brought forward by the China Textile Industry Association.  
This standard is adminis tered by the National Home Textile S tandardisation Technology 
Committee.  
Drafted by: The Scientific and Technologica l Test Centre of the South Textile Industry , Test 
Centre  of Jiangsu Provincial Textile Pr oducts , Quality Supervision and Inspection.  
Drafted by: CHEN Yu, LI Hui, LIANG Guobin, YANG Haiying, FAN Ying.  
This standard is the first release.  GB ××××× —××××  
Household  textile s — the limits of volatile organic compounds  
 
1. Scope  
 
This standard specifie s the limits of volatile organic compounds , test methods and inspection 
rules.  
This standard is applicable to the production, sales and use of household textiles with mass 
coating, pla stics and rubber , and adhesives.  
 
2. Reference guidelines  
 
By being quoted in this standard, the terms in the following documents become standard 
terms. Any quoted documents with dates, and all its subsequent amendments to a single  (not 
including the contents  of corrigenda ) or the revised edition, are not applicable to this standard. 
However, relevant parties who reach an agreement according to the standard are encouraged 
to research into whether the latest versions of these documents should be used. For 
docum ents without a quoted date, the latest version applies to this standard.  
GB/T 2912.2 Textiles  — Determination of formaldehyde  — Part 2: Released formaldehyde  
(vapour absorption method ) (GB/T 2912.2 -1998ISO 14842.2:1998,MOD )  
 
3. Terminologies and Definition  
 
The following are applicable to this standard  
 
3.1 
Total  volatile organic compounds  
Analyse using nonpolar gas chromatography. Retention is between normal hexane and cetane , 
including k nown and unknown volatile compounds.  
3.2 
Household textiles  
All household textile products of various types: bedding, towels, cloth decorations, kitchen 
and commode, electrostatic flocking and textile products for public use, etc.  
 
4. Requirements  
 
The limit s of volatile organic compounds of household textiles should be as specified in 
Table 1.  
 
Table 1: Household textile s — the limits of volatile organic compounds  
Items  Units  Limits  
Released formaldehyde  mg/kg  300 
Total volatile compounds    mg/kg  50 
Note: Total volatile compounds mainly include: benzene, toluene, ethyl, dimethylbenzene  
and styrene etc.  
   GB ××××× —××××  
 
5. Test methods  
 
5.1 Test on released formaldehyde is as specified in GB/T 2 912.2.  
5.2 Test on total volatile compounds is as specified in Appendix A.  
 
6. Test rules  
 
6.1 Randomly select typical samples. The quantity of the samples should meet all test 
requirements.  
6.2 After test samples are selected, seal them immediately. Do not p rocess the samples in any 
way.  
6.3 If all test results meet the requirements in Table  1, then the limits of volatile organic 
compounds of  the test samples meet the requirement s; otherwise not.  
   GB ××××× —××××  
 
Appendix A  
(Guideline Appendix ) 
Household textile s — the lim its of volatile organic compounds  
 
Warning — Anyone using this standard should have lab work experience. This 
standard has not pointed out all  the potential safety issues. Users should be responsib le 
for adopting the appropriate safety and health measures , and they should abide by the 
relevant state rules and regulations.  
 
A.1 Principles  
Kept i n sealed containers and maintained at a constant temperature, the volatile organic 
compounds of the test samples are balanced between gas and solid states. Use GC/MSD  with 
a mass selective detector to test the solid samples. Use the external standard method to 
calibrate with a methylbenzene calibration solution . Use ion -selective detection to verify.  
A.2 Instruments and reagents  
Unless specified otherwise, all reagent s used are AR analytical reagents.  
A.2.1 gas chromatography  — mass spectrometer;   
A.2.2 auto head space sampler ; 
A.2.3  head space sampler bottle , with polytetrafluorethylene silicone rubber sealant;   
A.2.4 10L  airtight injector ; 
A.2.5 acetone   
A.2.6 toluene   
A.2.7  calibration solution ; 
Use acetone or other suitable solutions to dilute the toluene to formulate a concentration of 
0.5 mg/mL , 1.0 mg/mL , 5.0 mg/mL , 10.0 mg/mL , 50.0 mg/mL  (freshly made ). 
 
A.3 Analysis procedures  
A.3.1 sample preparation  
Samples do not need to be humidified. Seal the samples before test.  
Note: Samples can be stored in a polyethylene package, and wrapped with aluminium foil to 
prevent volatilization through air holes in the package. In addition, this can also prevent the 
samples touching the aluminium foil, so that the reagents and other residual compounds on 
the unwashed textiles will not react with the aluminium foil.  
Select typical samples, cut into pieces of 5mm×5mm or sm aller, and then mix. Place 2.00 g 
of mixed samples into a head space sampler bottle (A.2.3 ) of 20 mL. Cover with a silicon 
rubber mat and an aluminium lid. Use a sealing tool to seal and then place it in the head space 
sampler.  
A.3.2 Test 
Gas chromatograph y — mass spectrum requirements:  
A test result depends on the instrument used ; general parameters of chromatographic analysis 
cannot be provided. The following parameters ha ve been proved to be suitable for the tests.  
Heating temperature of the head space s ampler 120. Heating time is 45 minutes.   
a) chromatographic column HP-5 MS 30  m×0.25  mm×0.5 m or equivalent;  12/min; 
b) column temperature : 50 (3 minutes)   200 (4 minutes)    GB ××××× —××××  
c) sampler inlet temperature: 200 ; 
d) sampling method: distributary r atio 1:20; 
e) carry gas: helium, purity  99.999% 1.0 mL/min   
f) chromatogram — mass spectrometer inlet temperature: 250  
g) electrolytic method: EI; 
A.3.3 result calculation  
A.3.3.1 determination of the correction factor  
Pour the rationed calibration s olution (A.2.7.) into 5 head space sampler bottles with a 
microsyringe. Seal with sealing tools immediately and place in an auto head space (A.2.2.). 
After heating at 12 0 for 5 minutes, place it in GC/MSD  to analyse. Determine the 
correcting factor (KG) b y peak area and corresponding concentration.  
A.3.3.2 Total volatile organic compounds are calculated as per formula  (1): 
 
 ----------------------------------------------------  (1)  
 
Where,  
 
EG ——  total volatile organic compounds  of samples , unit: mg/kg ; 
A ——  total chromatogram peak area of samples ; 
A0 ——  blank chromatogram peak area ; 
KG ——  correcting factor ; 
m ——  sample mass, unit: g; 
V ——  sampler volume of calibration solution, unit: L. 
Note: When the volume of a head space sampler is 20 mL, take 2 g s amples, V=4L; when 
the volume of a head space sampler is 10 mL, take 1 g samples, V=2L, and so on.  
A.3.3.3 A single volatile organic compound is calculated as per formula (2):  
 
----------------------------------------------------  (2) 
 
Where : 
 
Ei ——  a single volatile organic compound of samples, unit: mg/kg ; 
A ——  a single chromatogram peak area of samples;  
As——  the peak area of a single volatile organic compound in the standard solution;  
C ——  the concentration of a single volatile organic compound in the standard solution, unit: 
mg/L   
m ——  sample mass, unit: g; 
V ——  sampler volume of calibration solution, unit: L. 
Note: When the volume of a head space sampler is 20 mL, take 2 g samples, V=4L; when 
the volume of a head space sampler is 10 mL, take 1 g sa mples, V=2L, and so on.  
 
A.4 Threshold  of measurement, recovery and precision  
A.4.1 Threshold  of measurement  
Threshold  of this measurement is 0.5 mg/kg.    GB ××××× —××××  
A.4.2 re covery  
When adding 0.5~50  mg/kg benzene to the  sample, the recovery is 88.0% ~ 96.1% . 
A.4.3 precision   
For tests performed in the same lab, using the same instrument by the same person and 
following the same test method , the absolute difference from the two tests performed within a 
short -time gap should be no greater than 10% o f the mean value of the two results. On only 
5% of the occasions, it is greater than 10%.  
 
A.5 Test report  
The test report should include , at the very least, the following contents:   
a)  sample description   
b)  standard used   
c)  test result   
d)  deviation from the standard   
e)  test date     GB ××××× —××××  
 
Appendix B  
(Guideline Appendix)  
The total ion current chromatogram of GC/MS of volatile organic compounds  
 
Figure B  
 
 
Table B1: Name of volatile organic compounds  
and GC/ MS characteristic ions of the reference substances  
Characteristic Ions (amu)  No. Name  Retenti on 
time / minute  CAS No.  
qualitative  quantitative  
1 benzene  2.35 71-43-2 7874 78 
2 2,2,4 -trimethylpentane  2.55 540-84-1 574199 99 
3 toluene  3.65 108-88-3 916551 91 
4 butyl acetate  4.59 123-86-4 874356 87 
5 ethylbenzene  5.75 100-41-4 10691 106 
6 p-dimethylbenzene  5.96 106-42-3 10691 106 
7 cinnamene  6.55 100-42-5 1047851 104 
8 o-dimethylbenzene  6.60 95-47-6 10691 106 
9 n-C 11  11.46  1120 -21-4 1565743 156 
10 n-C 14  14.30  629-59-4 1985743 198