ELIMINATION OF AIRBORNE VOLATILE COMPOUNDS THROUGH INCORPORATION OF ADVANCED 3D NANOSTRUCTURED CATALYTIC COATINGS IN ADSORPTION/DECOMPOSITION AIR PURIFICATION SYSTEMS

Project Summary / Abstract Every year, eight million premature deaths and $5 trillion of societal costs are linked to air pollution. According to the US EPA, indoor air quality (IAQ) is often two to five times worse than outdoor air, which is especially alarming since we spend 90% of our time indoors. In fact, poor IAQ accounts for 48% of air pollution-related deaths. Submicron-scale pollutants, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOCs), cause serious chronic illnesses, ranging from cancer to pulmonary diseases, and reduce worker productivity and student concentration. Existing technologies rely on pollutant capturing, trapping, and sometimes destruction, but are all known to have problems from desorption to byproduct creation and ozone generation. Metalmark Innovations, Inc. is developing an advanced hybrid sorption-catalyst air purification system to capture and destroy such pollutants in an e cient and byproduct-free manner. The air purifier relies on Metalmark’s proprietary 3D nanostructured thermal catalytic materials that are uniquely suited for IAQ applications, due to their significantly enhanced activity, reduced operating temperatures and associated reduction in energy consumption, exceptional catalyst stability (no nanoparticle sintering), and reduced cost compared to their commercially available counterparts. VOCs are captured in a sorbent module and intermittently released to the catalyst for complete destruction without release of byproducts. In this Phase II project, we will source and improve sorbent materials, design the Metalmark catalysts, optimize the sorbent-catalyst system, produce three generations of air purifier prototypes through an iterative learning process, and perform at least one pilot study using the final prototype. Overcoming the technological challenges posed in this SBIR Phase II project will propel this innovative indoor VOC treatment system towards a commercial product for improving the safety of indoor air of o ces, hotels, schools, homes, and other indoor or in-cabin spaces.