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Ionic Air Purifier

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Ionic Air Purifier - Fighting The Unseen Enemy

Waking up each morning is a reminder for me to get cracking here on my inaugural lens. Airborne impurities, the unseen enemy, do their dirty work on my nose in the night. Sinus symptoms greet many of my waking moments.

Quite apart from this, not-too-distant memories at firsthand of the terror created by the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Symptoms (SARS) near-pandemic serves as added impetus to my current quest. And of course this dovetails perfectly with the Next Big Thing in the scientific and medical world, a full-blown global avian pandemic.

The enemy is unseen. Viruses, bacteria and other less harmful but equally annoying impurities, airborne and otherwise, are often invisible to the naked eye.

It is only logical that the weapon must be at the microspcopic level. Hence, my current fascination with the promise of the ionic air purifier. Join me in my quest for the ideal, not just effective but more importantly safe, high tech tool to solve my daily problem.

As a first step, I am sharing my research of the existing ionic air purifier technologies.

Ion Generators

Negative Ions Only - Dominates Current market

Negative ion generators currently dominate market share based on anecdotal evidence. The basic idea here is that airborne impurities carry a positive electrical charge that can be neutralised by negative ions. As the negative ions pile on, gravity causes the now overweight particles to settle on the ground where simple vacuuming eradicates them from your living space.

It also matters how the negative ions are generated as the various methods result in different by-products, some of which do more harm than good. These various methods include:

Corona Discharge Method
This uses a sharp metal electrode and a flat electrode. When high voltage is applied between the electrodes, the movement of electrons between the electrodes ionises the air in that same space. This method has been criticised for harmful by-products like ozone and nitric oxide.

Electron Radiation Method
This uses only a single negative discharge electrode needle. A high voltage pulse is applied to the electrode to generate electrons. This method apparently has the advantage of not producing ozone due to the "smaller" energy of the pulse compared to that of the corona discharge method.

Water Method
This uses the Lenard Effect (otherwise known as the "waterfall effect") whereby large numbers of negative ions are generated by the application of a small electric charge to split water droplets splashed onto a metal plate. An alternative method pioneered by Simpson involves splitting water in air by utilizing the high energy of a turning air stream. It is claimed that no harmful by-products are produced by the water method.

Worth investigating further is the Australian-made Elanra negative ioniser. It lays claim to be the world's first and only medical ioniser that produces small, ingestible negative ions of oxygen via a patented process.

Ion Generators - New Age

Positive and Negative Ions - New Kid On The Block

Taking the ionic air purifier market by storm, especially in North Asian countries like Japan and Korea, are the new generation ion generators.

Positive Plus Negative Ions
Produced by what is known as a differential ion generator, this system comprises both positive and negative ion generators which can be alternately powered on and off to control the type of ions generated. To date, this invention appears to have been commercially applied only by the Japanese Sharp Corporation in its plasmacluster ion air purification technology.

I have read patents relating other methods of producing positive and negative ions but have not yet been able to trace the technology to a commercial product. It is claimed that these technologies have been applied in hospitals and even on space stations.

Positive Plus Negative Is Natural Not Neutral
The positive and negative ions camp claims that a balance of both ion types is the real state of the environment found in natural places like forests and waterfalls. Proponents of negative ions believe that negative ions dominate the environment in forests and near waterfalls and they go on further to add that positive ions are harmful. I have yet to find solid scientific studies as evidence for the contradictory claims of both camps.

Hydroxyl - Nature's Detergent
According to Sharp Corporation, the plasmacluster of positive and negative ions clump to harmful bacteria and viruses triggering the production of hydroxyl. Hydroxyl is a powerful reactive species that plucks out hydrogen molecules from the organic structure of bacteria and viruses, thereby killing them. Harmless by-products, the main of which is water, are produced.

Plasmacluster Ions Are Proven Safe
Sharp also claims that the plasmacluster ions do not harm human tissue as the higher electrical charge of the human body neutralizes them, rendering them inert and incapable of producing the reactive hydroxyl. Tests covering inhalation toxicity as well as eye and skin irritation/corrosion have been conducted by the Mitsubishi Chemical Safety Institute Ltd. I am trying to get a copy of this report to study in detail. It does seem to be the only mention of any scientific safety tests for all the different ionic air purification technologies that I am researching.

The Sharp Plasmacluster Ionic Air Purifier Technology is worth scrutinizing in depth as Sharp announced on 27 August 2008 that it has been lab-tested to be 99.9% effective in destroying the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Photocatalytic Oxidation (POC) & Germicidal UV Light

Space Age Technology

Hydroxyl, Again
Believed to originate from NASA space age technologies, POC is a passive method that uses the powerful hydroxyl to purify the impure air that is pulled through the air purifier.

Ultraviolet (UV) light is shone on a catalyst (usually titanium oxide) to trigger the production of hydroxyl, oxygen and peroxide, all of which are reactive agents that are very effective at oxidizing and therefore destroying micro-organisms and volatile organic compounds or VOCs.

Comprehensive All-rounder
Proponents of this technology claim that it is able to inactivate all categories of indoor pollution, including:

(a) particulates i.e. dust, smoke etc
(b) bioaerosols i.e. micro-organisms such as viruses, bacteria, molds etc
(c) volatile organic compounds (VOCs) i.e. gaseous chemicals or odours - benzene, toluene,hexane, ethanol, formaldehyde and ethylene, all common emissions from everyday products of our modern home.

Mechanics, Unexplained
The actual mechanism that eliminates VOCs is not fully understood except that when VOCs make contact with titanium oxide, they are oxidized and eliminated. It is also believed that where the photocatalytic chamber has a high concentration of ions and reactive species, oxidation of VOCs is even more effective. To this end, ion technologies are often combined with POC technology.

Adsorptive materials such as zeolites, activated carbon and alumina are often also included with POC technology to remove VOCs by adsorption. The most common of these would be activated carbon which is typically charcoal that has been processed to be extremely porous and therefore have a very large surface area for adsorption or chemical reactions to take place on VOCs that adhere to its surface.

UV Light - The Nano Difference
It seems that the tricky part of this technology is in the wavelength of UV light used to impact the catalyst. Interestingly, at 254 nm, UV light actually reduces excess ozone whilst at 380 nm, additional ozone is generated. This appears to be another area for further research.

Electrostatic Filters

Widespread Industrial Usage

Electrostatic filter air purifiers appears to be widely used in industries that generate copious pollutants.

Two Conductors And One Not
Generally, electrostatic filters comprise a porous dielectric material that is positioned between a pair of electrodes. Dielectric refers to materials that do not conduct electricity while electrodes, usually metallic, are good conductors that emit, control or receive electricity.

Impure air is drawn into one end of an electrostatic purifier and is made to pass through the dielectic material. An electrostatic field is created between the electrodes which causes particulates i.e. dust, smoke contaminants, in the air to adhere to the dielectric. Purified air emerges from the other end of the purifier.

Ion Enhanced Electrostatic Filter
This is basically the same as the electrostatic filter except that an ion source is placed before the electrostatic filter to impart an electric charge to the particulates as the impure air passes through. The electrically charged particles are believed to adhere more effectively to the dielectric material.

Combos

All For One and One For All

Combo ionic air purifiers attempt to incorporate all the known ionic air purification technologies talked about above and throws in other features as well, including:

Oxidizing Catalysts
Oxidizing catalysts like barium titanium oxide and titanium oxide are coated on different components of the air purifier to improve the removal of VOCs and reactive species like ozone.

Reducing Catalysts
Reducing ctalysts like manganese dioxide are incorporated at the last stage of the purification process before the air re-emerges from the air purifier. This is to specifically reduce reactive species like ozone and nitric oxide which in abundance are harmful to humans.

Same Ions, Different Sources
Over the years, differing methods of generating ions have appeared in the ionic air purifier market. Theses methods include using RF (radio frequency), microwave, ultra-violet light and D.C. (direct current).

HEPA Standard
True HEPA has been the traditional king of the air purifier realm. The ionic air purifier market is aiming to enhance the specifications to attain HEPA status without using HEPA filters. Much data is available on the internet about traditional HEPA but this is currently not within the scope of my research.

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Reader Feedback

  • imranmit May 10, 2011 @ 5:19 pm | delete
    A beautiful lens written on ionic air purifiers. The process of buying an air purifier or air cleaner is a tough task but you can make it simple by knowing the differences between the different air purifiers and air cleaners.
  • JennySui Apr 8, 2011 @ 4:18 am | delete
    Lovely lens on the topic "Ionic Air purifier". Well done:)
  • Ladyclodine May 24, 2010 @ 9:25 pm | delete
    the ionic air purifiers may cost $114.95 to $149.99, this is a lot of money to spend with a cheap product. You may give importance to check the sites and the reviews first.
  • monarch13 Dec 16, 2008 @ 9:47 am | delete
    Great info and research! 5 stars, lensrolled and thanks for joining The Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Group!
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