Sick Building Syndrome
Sick Building Syndrome
ZEPHYR AIR PURIFIERS USE 7 DIFFERENT STAGES AND TECHNOLOGIES TO FILTER THE AIR YOU BREATHE IN YOUR HOME OR OFFICE. HERE IS AN IN DEPTH LOOK INTO THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BEHIND EACH STAGE.
Technology
HEPA Filters are one of the most trusted filtration technologies in the world, used by hospitals, high tech clean rooms, and scientific laboratories. HEPA is an acronym for “High Efficiency Particulate Air” and/or “High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance”. It is important to understand that not all HEPA Filters are made the same and thus provide differing results. Cheaper made HEPA Filters or “HEPA – type, HEPA – style or HEPA – like Filters” are made from nonwoven glass fibers (fiberglass) and thus have a lower filtration efficiency.
Our HEPA Filters are made from woven randomly arranged PP Fibers (Polypropylene Fibers) for higher filtration efficiency and PP Fibers are chemically inert, meaning they are not chemically reactive; and therefore do not pose any offsetting health risks. Our HEPA filters are designed to target much smaller pollutants and particles down to 0.1 μm in diameter and larger. These particles are trapped (they stick to a fiber) through a combination of the following three mechanisms:
Diffusion: An enhancing mechanism that is a result of the collision with gas molecules by the smallest particles, especially those below 0.1 μm in diameter, which are thereby impeded and delayed in their path through the filter; this behavior is similar to Brownian motion and raises the probability that a particle will be stopped by either interception or impaction; this mechanism becomes dominant at lower air flow.
Interception: Particles following a line of flow in the air stream come within one radius of a fiber and adhere to it.
Impaction: Larger particles are unable to avoid fibers by following the curving contours of the air stream and are forced to embed in one of them directly; this effect increases with diminishing fiber separation and higher air flow velocity.
Through these mechanisms, our HEPA Filters are effective at trapping a wide range of particulates including: Dust, pet dander, allergens, pollen, dust mites and their droppings, tobacco smoke.
STAGE 1: PRE-FILTER
It is important to understand that not all carbon filter used in air purifiers are the same. There are two types of filters which are used in air purifiers, one is cheaper and one is more expensive; it is therefore important to understand and know which of these two types of activated carbon filters you are getting when you buy an air purifier.
The first type of filter is a carbon mesh type filter which is widely used by companies due to its very inexpensive manufacturing cost. Unfortunately, the absorption rate of this type of filter is much lower due to a much smaller surface area because there are fewer interconnected series of pores inside the carbon mesh fibers and the air space between fibers allows more pollutants to pass through then the second type of carbon filter.
The second type of carbon filter that can be used in an air purifier is pelletized carbon. Pelletized activated carbon is a highly porous substance that attracts and holds organic chemicals inside it. The media is created by first burning a carbonaceous substance without oxygen which makes a carbon “char”. Next, the “char” is treated chemically or physically to develop an interconnected series of “holes” or pores inside the carbon. The great surface area of this internal pore network results in an extremely large surface area that can attract and hold organic chemicals.
One gram of activated carbon can have a surface area in excess of 500 m2 (5,400 sq ft), with 3,000 m2 (32,000 sq ft) being readily achievable and thus provides much more surface area and higher absorption properties then a carbon mesh filter. Pelletized carbon can also be packed closer together then the carbon fibers of a mesh filter, thus leaving less space for pollutants to pass through without being absorbed.
Each Zephyr filter uses 1 pound (453 grams) of pelletized activated carbon; which as a result create an enormous surface area for absorbing odors and a long list of VOC’s commonly found in indoor air; some of which include: Formaldehyde, Benzene, Ammonia, Carbon Monoxide, Chlorine, household cleaners, off gassing from household building materials, perfumes, and many more.