Feasibility study on the adsorptive control of indoor CO2 inside car by using solid CO2 adsorbent

摘要

Low concentration of CO2 is known to be harmless to human, but high concentration of CO2 may cause several adverse effects in car. Ventilation is one of the easiest ways to reduce indoor CO2 concentration in car, but the ventilation is not always good in urban area. Since various air pollutants, like particulate matters, volatile organic compounds, and formaldehyde may come into the car during ventilation. When the car moves slower than 40 km/h, CO2 concentration in the car can be higher than 4,000 ppm in the absence of ventilation. In this study, another way to reduce CO2 concentration was proposed. CO2 adsorbent was introduced to remove the indoor CO2 in the car. A small CO2 adsorption system was prepared, and installed in a sedan car. The car was driven in urban area and highway, and CO2 concentration change in the car was monitored with and without the operation of this system. The effect of car speed, the number of passengers, the amount of loaded adsorbent, and the fan speed was investigated. It was found that indoor CO2 concentration could be lowered by more than 1,000 ppm by operation of this system when 3 passengers were onboard.