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Effectiveness of Portable Indoor Air Cleaners: Sensory Testing Results
Author(s) -
Shaughnessy Richard J.,
Levetin Estelle,
Blocker Jean,
Sublette Kerry L.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0668.1994.t01-1-00006.x
Subject(s) - hepa , particulates , ozone , odor , waste management , smoke , sorbent , potassium permanganate , activated carbon , environmental science , chemistry , environmental chemistry , pulp and paper industry , filter (signal processing) , adsorption , organic chemistry , computer science , engineering , computer vision
The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of individual commercially available portable indoor air cleaning units in removing dust particulates, tobacco smoke particulate and vapor phase constituents (nicotine and vinyl pyridine), viable and total fungal spores, pollen, and gaseous contaminants (carbon monoxide[CO], nitrogen dioxide[NO 2 ], and formaldehyde[HCHO]), in a clean air test chamber. The air cleaner chamber results presented here represent initial‐use results. In general, High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) and electrostatic precipitator systems demonstrated the highest efficiencies with respect to particulate, contaminants, followed closely by electret filter systems. Ionizers and ozone generators were least effective in particulate removal. Systems which included sufficient sorbent material (i.e. activated carbon or potassium permanganate) were marginally effective at gaseous contaminant removal. None of the systems tested were effective at carbon monoxide removal. Sensory testing was conducted to discern potential correlation between human perceptive response and measured air cleaner performance (with respect to tobacco smoke removal). An electret filter (EF) loaded with carbon sorbent received the best ratings with respect to odor strength, nasal irritation, eye irritation, and overall air acceptability.