Air Cleaner Effectiveness For Removing Indoor VOCs

摘要

Growing concern about the adverse effects of poor indoor air quality is driving the U.S. market for purchasing more air cleaners. These air cleaners range from portable to duct-mounted devices, and operate using a variety of technologies that claim to remove particulate matter, chemicals/odors (including VOCs) and other pollutants. This article examines the effectiveness of these devices and what can be used as performance indices when selecting the air cleaners. For particulate removal, certain laboratory testing standards have been established, though the reported performance index for portable and in-duct air cleaners are different. The Consumers Union and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers periodically evaluate effectiveness of portable air cleaners based on standard AHAM-AC-2002 and report the clean air delivery rate (CADR) for cigarette smoke (0.10 - 1.0 μm size particles), fine dust (0.5 - 3.0 μm) and pollen (5-11 μm), respectively.