Indoor Air Pollution

THE Quality of Indoor Air has become increasingly important given that the amount of time spent indoors is more than ever before. Indoor Air has been found to be contaminated with microbials (including viruses, microscopic bacteria, fungi, etc.), harmful gases (like VOCs, radon, formaldehyde, H2S, etc.) and particulates (PMx , dust, etc.) that are responsible for “building related diseases”( US EPA, 1990; WHO 1989). Building Related Diseases also known as Sick Building Syndrome is the collective name of illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis, allergic reactions, headache, nose or throat irritation, dry cough, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, allergic rhinitis, etc. that are caused by Polluted Indoor Air (BOULAY and BOULET, 2003). Indoor Air Pollution is a significant problem that needs an efficient solution.

The traditional methods of purifying air like filtration, adsorption and disinfection have a limited ability to effectively achieve suitable IAQ Standards. Recently, promising technologies such as PHI (Photo Hydro Ionization), bipolar ionization and UVGI have displayed greater efficiencies in cleaning selected aspects of the Indoor Air. Research shows that on combining these powerful technologies, an even more efficient system with unforeseen triple benefits can be formed, PHIO+.

PHIO+ also called as Photo Hydro Ionized Oxidation + is a technology in which an existing PHI product is combined with a bipolar ionization cell to neutralize all the aspects of Indoor Air contaminants and even provide energy saving and health improvement benefits to the user.

The Formation
The Indoor Air is made up of various gaseous substances that have the ability to pose a threat to the health of human occupants. VOCs have been found at higher conc...

... middle of paper ...

...e the bacteria from reproducing, thus effectively killing them. The reduction rate of various bacterial species was significant within 15 minutes. “The results of the air ion experiment (i.e. without any interventions) are presented in Figure 2, which shows the survival fraction verses exposure time for each bacterial species. From these it can be seen that in every case exposure to negative air ions was associated with a marked reduction in colony count. Statistical analysis using a T-test (two-tailed with equal variance) reveals that for all bacteria species this reduction was significant (p < 0.01)”, according to experiments conducted by Fletcher et al (p.32, 2007). According to experiments conducted, 99.0% of the virus was removed after approx. 38 minutes of the use of PHIO+. Recent experiments also show a similar effectiveness of PHIO+ on H1N1, H7N9, H5N1, etc.