Ultrahigh Efficacy Air Purifier for Airborne Pathogens

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness of the role airborne pathogens play in transmitting infection and will leave a legacy of focused attention on indoor air quality for the foreseeable future. Indoor enclosed spaces are high-risk environments for increased transmission of aerosolized pathogens like COVID-19, SARS, influenza, and other yet-to-emerge diseases. Many situations, including offices, aircraft cabins, classrooms, and public transportation, place humans in close proximity, where aerosolized pathogens are a threat. Centralized HVAC systems, while providing a proportion of fresh air, can actually spread pathogens under certain circumstances. While several air purification solutions are currently available, including those based on emerging technologies, independent studies have shown many to be much less effective than they claim under real-world operating conditions. Approaches employing HEPA filters, which are good at removing airborne pathogens, come with a high cost burden and energy penalty for centralized systems. The proposed product is an air purifier that employs photocatalytic technology for use in centralized HVAC systems to capture, kill, and destroy airborne bacteria and viruses, reducing the concentration of airborne pathogens in enclosed or semi-enclosed spaces. This novel approach has a pressure drop 1/5th to 1/10th that of a comparable HEPA system, allowing for its addition to existing HVAC systems with limited modification. This photocatalytic air purifier will also eliminate VOCs from the air with greater than 99% single-pass removal efficiency without the release of harmful intermediates or the use of carbon adsorbents, which require changeouts and disposal. The markets for air purification are large and growing strongly. World-wide, the air purification market was $10.7B in 2020 and is projected to grow to $22.8B by 2028. The target market for this technology is occupied commercial spaces, including office buildings, restaurants, hotels, health care facilities, schools, and public transportation. The envisioned product is suitable for airborne antimicrobial control in existing HVAC systems as well as in new equipment. This technology will form the basis for multiple products in pathogen removal that will reduce transmission of airborne communicable disease to increase the confidence of workers and travelers, thereby improving the economy as well as worker productivity.