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Byproduct Formation from Portable Air Cleaners under Standard Test Conditions
Published
Author(s)
Dustin Poppendieck, Michael Link, Rileigh Robertson
Abstract
Use of air cleaners has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfire frequency. A wide range of air cleaning technologies have been implemented in various products, although the potential of these technologies to form byproducts is largely unknown. A consensus portable air cleaner test method was developed and tested using eight different air cleaners. The draft standard test method defines how to quantify clean air delivery rates (CADRs) for a suite of challenge chemicals and ultrafine particulate matter (UFP). Air cleaners can initiate indoor chemistry resulting in the formation of ozone (O3), formaldehyde (HCHO), and UFP. A proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTRMS) was used to quantify other volatile organic compounds (VOC) formation. It was found that tested photocatalytic oxidation and germicidal ultraviolet light (GUV) devices produced the highest levels of byproducts, while the tested electrostatic precipitator device removed the largest quantity of non-targeted VOCs.
Poppendieck, D.
, Link, M.
and Robertson, R.
(2024),
Byproduct Formation from Portable Air Cleaners under Standard Test Conditions, Indoor Air 2024, HONOLULU, HI, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=957174
(Accessed October 9, 2025)