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Air purifiers with some household cleaners can dirty the air |
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Friday, 09 March 2007 |
 Indoor air purifiers that produce even small quantities of ozone may actually make the air dirtier when used at the same time as household cleaning products, scientists at UC Irvine have discovered.
According to "Today@UCI"'s website, ozone emitted by purifiers reacts in the air with unsaturated volatile organic compounds such as limonene – a chemical added to cleaning supplies that gives them a lemon fragrance – to create additional microscopic particles, scientists found. Certain ionic purifiers emit ozone as a byproduct of ionization used for charging airborne particles and electrostatically attracting them to metal electrodes. Ozonolysis purifiers emit ozone at higher levels on purpose with the ostensible goal of oxidizing volatile organic compounds in the air.
“The public needs to be aware that every air purification approach has its limitation, and ionization air purifiers are no exception,” said Sergey Nizkorodov, assistant professor of chemistry at UCI and co-author of the study. “These air purifiers can not only elevate the level of ozone, a formidable air pollutant in itself, but also increase the amount of harmful particulate matter in indoor air.” |
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