Comments on: 2 Reasons to Avoid Most Electronic Air Cleaners

By: Ben Reed

Ben Reed — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 01:12:17 +0000

Hey Allison! What’s the most recent scoop on this? Any new studies or developments we can reference when choosing technology that can clean our air?

By: Mohit

Mohit — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 09:22:26 +0000

In reply to Ron Barnett.

Hi Ron, my two cents based various research papers and internal testing carried out, Allison’s paper is bang on on any additive filtration.

Be it Ozone, Hydrogen Peroxide, Hydroxyl Radicals etc, working principal remains the same – which is oxidation of VOC’s ( Hydrocarbons) or Microorganisms.

The oxidation potential measured in Electro chemical volts determine the efficacy, that is how good and fast a radical or ion can oxidise.

Higher the oxidation potential better the oxidation, this also makes the Nth life of particular ion lower.

Now here is the catch, most of these independent testing / No harmful by-product etc as MARKETED by various companies test the devices in a very controlled environment and disclosure states Harmful by-product are within limits ( every other manufacturer markets in same way)

Once these products are installed Residential / Commerical environment, the dynamics of Air completely change the operations of these products wherein they are now placed in uncontrolled environment.

Due to incomplete chemical reactions, these ions / radicals react with various hydrocarbon present ( TVOC’s) and instead of resulting in harmless byproducts ( CO2 and H2O) they form variant of Hydrocarbons which may be even more dangerous or carcinogenic than the one you wanted to treat.

By: Eddie Fung

Eddie Fung — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 03:15:39 +0000

In reply to Mathew Kaye.

That’s the reason why filter media of an air filter should have anti-bacterial/viral properties.
http://www.nanofil.com.hk

By: Nat

Nat — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 02:31:30 +0000

I’ve been researching air cleaning options that might help alleviate my worsening allergies. Thanks for providing very clear, concise articles on the subject.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 16:43:28 +0000

Hey Allison! This is my third time reading this. It helps me so much. My company sells PCO/UV products and I am sometimes tempted to sell them due to sales, etc. But having great information like this keeps me grounded

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 09 May 2021 15:47:15 +0000

Another great article, Allison.
I work in the HVAC field. This includes hospitals, labs, and clean rooms. This research reflects exactly what is installed in the systems serving these facilities. It is all high MERV/HEPA filters and fresh air exchange. Critical environments use filtered 100% outside air. I do see some of the germicidal UV lamps – more commonly in public facilities. I come across exactly 0 (that’s zero) electronic, ozone, ionizing, etc. filtration equipment in any of these systems. HEPA filters are NOT cheap to maintain. If these products were as good as the manufacturer claims, why don’t I ever see any? Stop with the crap claims and show me REAL peer reviewed CREDIBLE research.

By: RYAN CLARK SHANAHAN

RYAN CLARK SHANAHAN — Tue, 04 May 2021 03:15:44 +0000

I use Blueair standalone air filters at home which have an “ionization chamber” in them but also came in well below the limit in the CA study linked above. I’ve been curious to see if folks in the know would recommend the safe for CA models or if they’d stay away from anything that has ionization all together? Overall, I’m impressed w/ the Blueair products because of their extremely efficient shape. The 411’s use only 10 watts on high speed.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 13:46:24 +0000

In reply to Loren Amelang.

I’d be wary of anything marketing itself as using “negative ions”, many such products are actually radioactive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7TwBUxxIC0

By: Loren Amelang

Loren Amelang — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 21:57:43 +0000

Thanks for the clues! I dug some more… It looks like oxygen can form ionic bonds with some metals, but mostly exists covalently bonded to another oxygen atom.

https://gemmahillchemistry.weebly.com/the-ozone-molecule.html

An oxygen gas molecule (O2) exists as a pair of oxygen atoms joined together by a double covalent bond. Two pairs of electrons are shared by the two atoms. Ozone (O3) consists of three oxygen atoms joined together. One of the lone pairs of electrons from one of the oxygen atoms of an O2 molecule forms a new covalent bond with a third oxygen atom.

Ozone (O3) is more reactive than oxygen gas (O2) because they have different structures. The double bond between oxygen gas atoms requires a lot of energy to break whereas when ozone reacts an oxygen atom generally splits off quite easily, which leaves behind a stable O2 molecule.

https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2004.08.035
Oxidation of volatile organic compounds by negative air ions
Chih Cheng Wu 2004

NAI means negatively charged small air ions. Superoxide (O2-) is the main negatively charged species in NAI, and is more stable than other ions. The lifetime of NAI depends on humidity, temperature and other factors, and the typical lifetime in clean air is less than several minutes.

Ozone O3 can be generated by the same electric discharge as ionization, and the amount of O3 generated is related to the material of electrode, humidity, discharge polarity, diameter of the electrode tip, and other factors. Discharge of a corona or a spark can generate ozone (O3), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) when the voltage exceeds 16 kV.

So – ozone and ionized “superoxide” are chemically different, but can be generated by the same equipment, depending on the ionizing voltage.

A survey of ionizer studies:
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/10/2966/pdf

Lots of confirmation of small particle reduction, main drawback is the possibility of ozone.

By: Allison Bailes

Allison Bailes — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 10:01:11 +0000

In reply to Loren Amelang.

Loren, in the article I stated pretty clearly that air cleaners that use ions, oxidation, or ozone are to be avoided. The Molekule is in that group since it uses a type of catalytic oxidation. Consumer Reports, which doesn’t pan all air cleaners of these types, ranked the Molekule 3rd from the bottom of the 48 they tested.

https://www.consumerreports.org/air-purifiers/molekule-air-purifier-review/