Air is full of pollutants as they are not limited to dust only. Air contains germs and bacteria that cannot be seen by naked eyes which are everywhere around us and we shouldn’t forget that air is a popular medium that diseases and viruses can spread in. So, we decided to choose the “purifying the air supply on Earth” challenge to work on.
We solved that challenge by using a device called “AiroCide” and it’s a system that uses patented technology to kill more than 99.99% of the airborne pathogens that pass through its processor.
The patented technology combines two known pathogen-killing techniques, Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) and ultraviolet light to destroy harmful airborne microbes. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the photocatalyst used in the AiroCide air purifying systems. When this material is irradiated with the ultraviolet photons from the lamps inside, hydroxyl radicals are formed, which oxidize (reduce to trace elements of carbon dioxide and water) the volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) adsorbed on the catalyst surface. Hydroxyl radicals will also kill and decompose airborne pathogens. From the advantages of AiroCide that it does not produce any harmful by-products like ozone, and it is not a filtering system as traditional purifying systems.
Airocide converts these organic compounds into carbon dioxide and water vapor, so we used silica gel as an additional filtration layer inside the device which absorbs water vapor because it causes humidity. we also used ziolite rock which filters the air from emitted carbon dioxide gas.
Air is an essential resource of nature that supports life on earth. This resource faces enormous challenges like air pollution and low air quality. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our time which is spent indoors increased according to stay-at-home-in-place policies worldwide. During the last two decades, there has been increasing concern within the scientific community over the effects of indoor air quality on health. The Indoor pollutants that emanate from a range of sources are harmful. The health bad impacts from indoor exposure to combustion products from heating, cooking, and tobacco. Also discussed are the symptoms associated with pollutants emitted from building materials. Of particular importance might be substances known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which arise from sources including paints, varnishes, and solvents. Furthermore, having pets and bad ventilation which makes indoor air Harmful to those who breathe it. Long-term exposure to air pollution has been associated with diseases of the heart and lungs, cancers, and other health problems. According to these reasons we were inspired to work on this challenge to eradicate these pollutants from the air supply so we can increase the air quality, therefore, improving the health as Breathing in polluted air can be harming our health.
After studying deeply in this project, we found that AiroCide emits the amount of carbon dioxide and water vapor while the process of purifying the air from its pollutants. Consequently, we decided to develop our project by adding a layer of silica gel that will absorb water vapor and carbon dioxide. The life support system on the space station currently uses a silica gel to remove humidity or water from the air, allowing another piece of hardware to more efficiently scrub carbon dioxide from the air, keeping it from becoming toxic. Also, adding crumbs of ziolite rock can remove CO2 from the air.
The database which NASA and ESA provide to us was the main source that inspires us with our idea. We could benefit from the provided database as we have known that there’s a highly developed type of air purifier called AiroCide. Unlike filters that have lesser capacities to remove particles of different sizes, the Airocide reaction is effective in the degradation and complete oxidation of all particle sizes, including tobacco smoke, pollen, and dust utilized in rating filtration systems. Additionally, Airocide reactors also remove gases, odors, volatile organic compounds as well as decompose living biological components such as mold spores, bacteria, and viruses.AiroCides can provide you with clean air not only free of dust and VOCs but also from viruses and bacteria and this is what we all want nowadays to be protected from COVID-19. Airocide mechanism depends mainly on photocatalytic oxidation which releases carbon dioxide and water vapor. By looking at information in NASA resources we found a material called silica gel to remove humidity or water from the air. So, we decided to modify the AiroCide and adding silica gel to remove water vapor from the air and ziolite to remove CO2. So, our device is made from some tools and materials. They are Fan, permanganate Media, MERV-12 media, fibrous material, and AiroCide catalyst. First, the fan draws the air from your home to the unit. Then, the air passes through some stages:
Stage1 is a permanganate Media that aids in creating a more rapid removal of gaseous material. Used by itself, activated carbon will saturate and reintroduce the gaseous component back into the environment. However, when used with PCO material that has 360ₒ exposure to a UV light source it expands capacity to remove VOCs.
Stage2: is MERV-12 media, which removes particulate matter from the air such as Inorganic Carbon.
Stage3: is a fibrous material coated with our proprietary catalyst that has approximately 270 degrees of exposure to the UV light source. We found that given the reaction chamber geometry this maximized the surface area and created a more efficient removal of the gaseous component of P.M 2.5.
Stage4: AeroCide catalyst was developed with approximately 90-degree exposure to the 254 nanometer UV light source. Approximately 15 - 20% of the composition of P.M 2.5 is organic material. This is primarily un-combusted hydrocarbons from cars, trucks, and from smokestacks. Typically, these molecules are very stable cyclic hydrocarbons that are both difficult to remove from the air and very dangerous to breathe (carcinogenic). The Airocide Catalyst has been proven effective in disturbing the stabilizing ring structure and achieving complete oxidation to Carbon Dioxide.
Through searching, we face a problem that the information we found about AiroCide wasn’t so much. So, it took so long for us to collect enough information about it and to understand its mechanism. Also, we had some achievements, that we’ve added two new techniques to our project. The first is silica gel which reduces humidity and the second is zeolite mineral which reduces the percentage of carbon dioxide in the air.
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