Indoor environment factor · measured in µg/m³
Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC)
Part of: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Also: TVOC, total VOC, total VOCs, total volatile organic compound
A single summed figure for the volatile organic compounds present in air, obtained by adding the responses measured across a defined range. It indicates the overall load rather than any one compound, and its value depends on the method that produced it.
What it is
Air holds hundreds of volatile organic compounds at once, most of them present in tiny amounts. Totalling them gives one number a room can be judged by — and the number is only as meaningful as the recipe behind it.
In a laboratory analysis the recipe is stated: the compounds eluting between n-hexane and n-hexadecane are summed and the sum is expressed in toluene equivalents. Change the range, the calibration compound or the sampling medium and the same air yields a different total. A consumer sensor produces something else again — a metal oxide element responds to whatever oxidisable gas reaches it, and the figure it displays is an indication of change, not a concentration traceable to a standard.
Two consequences follow, and both matter more than the number itself. A total from one method is not comparable with a total from another, and a low total does not exclude a single compound of concern, because one substance at a harmful level disappears into a sum dominated by harmless ones.
What the studies report
12 of 99 Findings — those with the strongest study design.
| Linked to | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indoor plants (phytoremediation) | difference 87.5 | — · university laboratory | experiment with four ornamental potted plants as a plant-based biofilter: benzene, toluene, benzaldehyde and acetophenone in an incubation chamber and then indoor air quality parameters measured in a pharmaceutical laboratory with and without the plants, over standardised 40-minute sessions | F-1046 Comparative evaluation of air phytoremediation potential of … (2025) | machine |
| Tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke) | — | — | before-and-after monitoring in billiard halls and screen golf ranges in Korea: total volatile organic compounds, nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 measured before and after the venues were designated non-smoking, against the 24-hour guidelines of the Korean Ministry of Environment | F-1136 Environmental monitoring and smoking exposure before and aft… (2026) | machine |
| Tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke) | — | — · billiard hall | before-and-after monitoring in billiard halls and screen golf ranges in Korea: total volatile organic compounds, nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 measured before and after the venues were designated non-smoking, against the 24-hour guidelines of the Korean Ministry of Environment | F-1137 Environmental monitoring and smoking exposure before and aft… (2026) | machine |
| Tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke) | — | — · screen golf range | before-and-after monitoring in billiard halls and screen golf ranges in Korea: total volatile organic compounds, nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 measured before and after the venues were designated non-smoking, against the 24-hour guidelines of the Korean Ministry of Environment | F-1138 Environmental monitoring and smoking exposure before and aft… (2026) | machine |
| Tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke) | mean 22.9 | — · billiard hall | before-and-after monitoring in billiard halls and screen golf ranges in Korea: total volatile organic compounds, nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 measured before and after the venues were designated non-smoking, against the 24-hour guidelines of the Korean Ministry of Environment | F-1139 Environmental monitoring and smoking exposure before and aft… (2026) | machine |
| Tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke) | mean 24.6 | — · screen golf range | before-and-after monitoring in billiard halls and screen golf ranges in Korea: total volatile organic compounds, nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 measured before and after the venues were designated non-smoking, against the 24-hour guidelines of the Korean Ministry of Environment | F-1142 Environmental monitoring and smoking exposure before and aft… (2026) | machine |
| — | difference 27 | — | measurement study of common cleaners and disinfectants in real indoor settings, among them a hotel lobby, lift and public bathroom during routine surface disinfection: fine particulate matter and total volatile organic compounds measured before, during and after each cleaning event, for bleach, quaternary ammonium compounds, thymol and other products | F-1364 Particulate Matter and Total Volatile Organic Compound Emiss… (2025) | machine |
| Air purifiers | other 67.8 | — · hotel guest room | tests of movable air cleaners in hotel guest rooms in Taiwan: total volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide, bacteria and fungi measured in three rooms before and during the operation of two brands of air cleaner, against the indoor air quality values of Hong Kong and Taiwan | F-1424 Management learning from air purifier tests in hotels Experi… (2015) | machine |
| Air purifiers | other 102.2 | — · hotel guest room | tests of movable air cleaners in hotel guest rooms in Taiwan: total volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide, bacteria and fungi measured in three rooms before and during the operation of two brands of air cleaner, against the indoor air quality values of Hong Kong and Taiwan | F-1425 Management learning from air purifier tests in hotels Experi… (2015) | machine |
| Cleaning products | difference 198 | — · bathroom | chamber-style measurement study of emissions during surface cleaning events in two laboratories, an office and a residential bathroom (room volumes 22 to 206 m3, air change rates 0.85 to 9.14 h-1) with four cleaning solutions: quaternary ammonium compounds, hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite and thymol | F-0136 Particulate Matter and Total Volatile Organic Compound Emiss… (2025) | machine |
| Indoor plants (phytoremediation) | difference 87 | — · studio apartment | two-month field study in studio apartments in Korea in winter: a botanical biofilter of C3 and CAM potted plants combined with ventilation, indoor CO2, TVOC, formaldehyde, PM2.5 and PM10 measured | F-0295 Sharma et al. Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Common Indoor Plants in I… (2022) | machine |
| — | p95 1066.58 | — · office | cross-sectional measurement and questionnaire study in 31 offices in Korea (three building groups, July to September 2016): indoor and outdoor air pollutants and subjective symptoms of office workers, with health risk assessment | F-0301 Jung et al. Risk Assessment of Indoor Air Quality and Its Association wi… | machine |
Each row is one Finding — a sentence as printed in one study, recorded with its page in the Coridum Knowledge Base. Follow the Finding number for the exact wording and the citation. Checked says who verified the row: machine means every automatic check passed and the surrounding text was read; person means someone read the sentence in the document. Rows are re-checked by a person over time. The studies are curated in the Coridum Knowledge Base; the reading of them together is a Claim, shown separately.
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Total volatile organic compounds (TVOC). Coridum Knowledge G-0109, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0109/