Development of a new photocatalytic oxidation air filter for aircraft cabin

Résumé et principaux résultats

Article published in Indoor Air - October 2005
A new photocatalytic oxidation air filter (PCO unit) has been designed for aircraft cabin applications. The PCO unit is designed as a regenerable VOC removal system in order to improve the quality of the recirculated air entering the aircraft cabin. The PCO was designed to be a modular unit, with 4 UV lamps sandwiched between 2 interchangeable titanium dioxide coated panels. Performances of the PCO unit has been measured in a single pass mode test rig in order to show the ability of the unit to decrease the amount of VOCs (toluene, ethanol, acetone) entering it (VOCs are fed separately), and in a multi pass mode test rig in order to measure the ability of the unit to clean the air of an experimental room polluted with the same VOCs (fed separately). Triangular cell panels have been chosen instead of the wire mesh panels because they have higher efficiency. The efficiency of the PCO unit depends on the type of VOCs that challenges it, toluene being the most difficult one to oxidise. The efficiency of the PCO unit decreases when the air flow rate increases. The multi pass mode test results show that the VOCs are oxidised but additional testing time would be necessary in order to show if they can be fully oxidised. The intermediate reaction products are mainly acetaldehyde and formaldehyde whose amount depends on the challenge VOC. The intermediate reaction products are also oxidised and additional testing time would be necessary in order to show if they can be fully oxidised. The development of this new photocatalytic air filter is still going on.

Commissions

Filtration de l'air

Thème

Ventilation et qualité de l'air

Mots-clés

Filtration, Filtres, Filtres de ventilation générale, Qualité de l'air intérieur

Auteurs

GINESTET Alain, PUGNET Dominique