Ozone Concerns in Museums

Clean Air Solution by Camfil USA. Leader in Air Filters for Commercial and Industrial applications.

Ozone Concerns in Museums & How Camfil Air Filters for Museums Help

Inappropriate environmental conditions may cause irreversible damage to vulnerable artefacts.
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Humans are destined to be on this earth for a relatively short period of time when considering the age of our planet. Inanimate objects can exist for thousands of years leaving future generations a record of our history so society can forever move forward. The most valuable of these objects we store in museums or archives. Unfortunately these objects can be impacted by poor indoor air quality or pollution we generate as we through common daily practices. The most damaging pollutant threatening these valuable artifacts is ozone. Produced primarily by gasoline powered vehicles, industry, chemicals, and a reaction with the sun and heat, ozone is hazardous to humans and also to artifacts.  Ozone will oxidize or breakdown artifacts by causing a cross-link in the artifact’s molecular structure causing them to become brittle. The effect is painfully apparent in paintings, textiles, fossils and virtually any item made of organic material.  One of our sad lessons of history was the loss of Hollywood level and archival films of the early 20th century. Ozone, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide caused yellowing, fading, brittleness and finally the complete destruction of the films.Air filters for museums

Museums and archives employ carbon air filtration to remove these gaseous contaminants from the air to protect these artifacts for the learning enjoyment of future generations. Using a filtration principle known as adsorption, the harmful gases permeate into the pore structure of the carbon and adhere to the vast surface area within the carbon. One cup of carbon can have over five square miles of surface area capable of adsorbing quintillions of molecules of gaseous contaminants. Carbon actually has a catalytic reaction with ozone turning dangerous O3 into beneficial O2.
Normally these carbon filters are installed in the museum HVAC system downstream of the particulate air filters. There are various filter configurations each with its own installation or performance advantage. One unique design includes 35 pounds of carbon in a disposable cartridge style filter.
Other high performance long-lasting modules may include up to 120 pounds of carbon in a cylindrical canister design or even multiple flat panel trays with up to 90 pounds of carbon.
There are even some carbon impregnated media types that fit into existing systems of offer a combination of gaseous contaminant and particulate contaminant removal in a single disposable filter module.
There are four major factors that will cause artifacts to degrade, in order of level of concern; ultraviolet radiation, poor air quality associated with gases and particulates, uncontrolled humidity and temperature.
Carbon provides a little black magic to protect our heritage for many years to come. Camfil, the world’s largest and most progressive air filter manufacturer can provide more information on carbon products for your systems at http://goo.gl/nhnr1R.

Charlie Seyffer | Manager of Marketing & Technical Materials
Camfil USA, Inc.
18 Camel Hill Road, Troy, NY 12180-9657
(Corporate: 1 N Corporate Drive, Riverdale, NJ 07457-1715)
Phone: +1 (518) 577-6864  |  Website: http://www.camfil.us/
Email: charlie.seyffer@camfil.com  |  Facebook

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How dirty is your air?

Clean Air Solution by Camfil USA. Leader in Air Filters for Commercial and Industrial applications.

Many design professionals are proponents of introducing outside air to clean up or dilute contaminants that are in the inside air in buildings where we work. In fact most people think that the outside air is clean, a God-given right. Unfortunately that is often not the case. In fact, according to the American Lung Association, “nearly 138.5 million people—almost 44 percent of the nation—live where pollution levels are too often dangerous to breathe.” In their 2015 State of the Air Report they list the areas of concern and provide details on the pollutants.

Camfil’s approach has always been remove the contaminants at the buildings HVAC system so they cannot get to the building occupants. This concept holds true whether contaminants are generated from inside or introduced to the building through ventilation air. A hidden benefit of using filters, energy savings as the cost of heating or cooling outside air is reduced. Even in areas where pollution may not be as big a factor, the solution to dirty air is not dilution it is removal.

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Air Filtration for Schools – IAQ Affects Academic Performance

Clean Air Solution by Camfil USA. Leader in Air Filters for Commercial and Industrial applications.

Air Filtration for Schools – On any given day, one in five people in the United States occupies a school building either as a student, a teacher, or an employee. The main goal, when considering the air quality in these facilities, is the health of the building occupants. There are numerous factors to consider when considering how to provide proper indoor air quality. Some include:

• Some classrooms have 25 or 30 students or more. Auditorium and gymnasiums typically have a lot of people in a confined area and hallways become contaminant soups as students change classes. People are our biggest pollution contributors often creating a particle pollution soup that can be additionally frustrating during infectious cold or flu seasons.
• Locker rooms also present air quality problems based upon increased bio effluents produced when human metabolism is increased. Heavily used rest rooms, especially in primary schools, present air quality problems from a sensory or comfort perspective.Chemicals associated with science laboratories and school cleaning are air quality factors.
• School buses and transportation vehicles create problems as they idle during student drop-off or pick-up.
• Additionally, many schools are older and in need of renovation or repair. According to a 2000 U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics report, about 25 percent of U.S. schools need extensive repair or replacement of one or more buildings. Nearly 11 million students attend these schools. Improper building operations and deferred maintenance contribute to poor indoor environmental conditions. Some schools even have asbestos concerns.

Perhaps the most important factor is research that shows an improved environment positively affects academic performance. Air filters that were once considered a commodity primarily associated with protecting equipment, are now an item under performance scrutiny for the protection of students and employees and the associated benefits of improved air. In most school renovations, or new school construction, central HVAC systems are now the design of choice. Multiple stages of air filtration are easily installed to control particulate or even gaseous contaminants. Students and school employees can now have the same filter efficiency as used in most commercial office buildings — MERV 13. This minimum efficiency reporting value as prescribed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) provides particle removal down into the non-visible sub-micron range and removes virtually all visible airborne contaminants. Particles associated with the transport of flu virus or colds can be captured and rendered inactive. Even schools with older through-the-wall type units can apply a higher level of air filtration to improve indoor air quality. Although the equipment is limited by a smaller fan unit, a filter with a MERV of 8 to possibly a 10 can often be applied.

Camfil, the world’s largest air filter manufacturer, can offer assistance in school air filter application. Consult you air quality professional for way to improve you school’s air quality so we may all benefit from better student academic performance, reduced sickness and reduced absenteeism.
Resource: Camfil Air Filters for Schools http://ift.tt/1cJ4kPj

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Nursing Home IAQ Concerns

Clean Air Solution by Camfil USA. Leader in Air Filters for Commercial and Industrial applications.

A recent European study, similar to some conducted in North America,  “showed an independent effect of several indoor air pollutants and comfort parameters on respiratory morbidity among the elderly permanently living in nursing homes.”

New nursing home facilities are being constructed at a record pace and existing nursing homes are over-taxed with too many occupants as America ages. 13.4% of our total population is over 65 and is being followed by the baby-boomer generation, one of the largest population groups in our history. Many of these facilities are in or border on urban areas, locales with air quality problems as pollution follows population. Unfortunately, nursing home residents are one of the highest susceptible segments of our population for lung problems, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other maladies that are prevalent in buildings where population density is high and compromised individuals reside.

These buildings also have problems associated with the type of heating and air conditioning equipment that is used to recirculate the air. Often they are limited by small fans that barely meet the air exchange requirements to provide clean indoor air. Many also have limited ventilation air introduction, used to dilute contaminants, and based upon their urban location outside air may not be acceptable because of high outside pollutant levels. Ozone, a pollutant that affects the geographic living area of at least 1 in 4 residents of the United States is of particular concern because of its detrimental effect upon people that already have comprised breathing systems.

Through consultation with an air filtration design expert many of these facilities can address these deficiencies by installing high efficiency particulate filters and carbon filters to address local ozone problems. An additional benefit of carbon is its high removal efficiency on bio effluents and other odor problems commonly associated with nursing facilities.

If these experts are consulted in the design stage, often central system HVAC units are installed.

Central systems are common in commercial buildings such as office and retail spaces and are much more conducive to applying high efficiency filtration. School construction of late has also moved towards central systems and away from through-the-wall or small package units after analyses show that short term amortization is favorable as is the environmental quality supplied to the school occupants. The same considerations should be applied to nursing homes for our aging population, their healthy existence even more dependent upon proper air quality.

Existing nursing homes may also address their air quality concerns through retrofitting of their heating and air conditioning units. In some cases it may be as simple as upgrading the existing air filter. Supplemental steps could include a central system filter upgrade or even increasing the number of air changes the system provides. Increasing air filtration efficiency, or increasing air changes to the occupied areas can have a beneficial effect on the air provided to the occupants of the building.

 

 

Camfil, the world’s largest air filter manufacturer, has air filtration experts around the world that can assist with your air quality requirements. Often they can apply the same principles or engineering designs used in hospitals and other medical facilities, even cutting filter expenditures and energy costs in the process.

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Air Filters for Airports

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The comfort of air passengers as they spend time in terminals waiting for flights, booking tickets and dealing with the frustrating aspects of airport security is a major concern for those that design or maintain these facilities.

Although passengers are transient, flight delays can significantly increase terminal occupancy and exposure to contaminants. Airport employees are also deserving of a proper working environment that includes indoor air equivalent to 100% clean outside air.

Airport pollution can come from a wide variety of sources including aircraft engines, auxiliary power units, ground support equipment, ground transport vehicles and of course, contaminants created by the high volume of people moving through the facility. Commercial aircraft use aviation kerosene (jet fuel of Jet A) or an aviation gasoline commonly referred to as Avgas. Auxiliary power units normally burn jet fuel. Ground support unit can include aircraft tugs, start assist units, forklifts, tractors, air-conditioning units, ground power units, baggage tugs, belt loaders, fuel or hydrant trucks, catering trucks, deicer trucks, water trucks, lavatory trucks, and cargo loaders, among others. Contaminants from these units vary depending on the fuel type (e.g., gasoline, diesel, propane, electric, etc.). Passenger shuttles, buses and transport such as taxi cabs and personal vehicle pick-up add to the pollution mix specific to the air surrounding the airport terminal.

The air filtration systems to protect the terminal environment serve double-duty, removal of particulate and removal of gaseous contaminants and odors. Air filter manufacturers have been addressing the unique requirements of these facilities for years using high efficiency particulate air filters and gaseous adsorbers. These filtration technologies have been so successful that the vast majority of terminal occupants rarely express air quality concerns.

The typical filter applied to control particles generated from combustion exhausts, construction, maintenance and the terminal occupants is a MERV 13 air filter. The MERV number corresponds to a particulate removal efficiency in a rating system developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers.

This level of efficiency removes all visible airborne particles and also removes those that cannot be seen because of their extremely small size. These filters contribute to the overall cleanliness level of the facility as wall staining and other nuisance dusts are eliminated. The most important factor, airborne lung-damaging particles are removed from the air protecting building occupants.

Airports also use adsorber systems, carbon filters of granular blends, to remove the gaseous contaminants from the air. Bio effluent odors from people, fumes from jet fuel, and other gaseous contaminants are adsorbed into the filtration granules and later removed for disposal.

The adsorptive capacity of this type of filtration is so extensive that these filters are usually only serviced once every two to three years. The replaced adsorbent media can also be regenerated and reused contributing as a renewable resource for today’s sustainable initiatives.

With today’s filtration technology it is also possible to address existing airport installations and in almost all cases significantly reduce air filter expenditures. Camfil has published numerous case studies. One in particular notes a filter life extension of over 50% and an increase in airflow of over 300%. Airflow is a significant factor when ensuring improved indoor air quality in any building, but possibly nowhere more important than airport terminals. A copy of their case study is available on their web site www.camfil.us.

Recently there have been some alternative technologies promoted as a filtration alternative to traditional airport air quality maintenance practices. They incorporate electro principle filtration techniques. Before considering this type of filtration two factors should be appraised. Electro principle filtration decreases in efficiency over time; some decrease quite rapidly. Particulate control for the protection of building occupants is the objective and will any efficiency less than a maintained MERV 13 be acceptable, even if that drop in efficiency is intermittent over the life of the filter? An additional claim for this type of filtration is that the electro action will breakdown gaseous contaminants because of the effect of molecular change. The academic concern at present is what effect does the contaminant breakdown have and what is the effect of the resultant gases?

When designing any airport facility it is best to consult with an air filtration professional. Consultants have a value if they have experience and one of the most prominent suppliers to airports worldwide is Camfil. A listing of the locations in the US can be found online as well as additional listings for locations worldwide.

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HEPA Filters Defined

Clean Air Solution by Camfil USA. Leader in Air Filters for Commercial and Industrial applications.

 

HEPA filters; high efficiency particulate air filters are not a recent innovation. Originally developed for the Federal Government in the early 1950s their original design intent was to capture contaminants associated with the manufacture of the atomic bomb. They were also called Absolute filters at that time as the goal was to have absolute efficiency, capturing any and all particles from the air. After World War II, the war to end all wars, the rights to the Absolute filter became the property of a company that is now known as Camfil. For a period of time, into the 1960s the HEPA filter had no commercial viability. Then came transistors and semiconductor industry.

HEPA filters, as defined by the Federal government and the Institute of Environmental Sciences & Technologies, are required to have a minimum removal efficiency of 99.97% on particles 0.3 micron in size. One micron is 1/25,400 of an inch and the smallest particle that the naked eye can see is around 10 microns in size. The period at the end of this sentence is approximately 615 microns. Imagine, a HEPA filter must have an efficiency of 99.97% on particles 1800 times smaller than the period.

HEPA filters are the only air filters that are required to be tested before they are shipped from the manufacturer. They are certified for performance and a label is placed on the filter noting its efficiency and other performance characteristics. In many critical applications the end user can also request a letter that certifies performance; a document that is filed as a safety reference throughout the life of the filter.

As filter manufacturing technology has improved, and the cleanliness requirements of product manufacturers has also increased, filter manufacturers have developed HEPA filters that have extraordinary efficiencies even to the level of 99.99995 at 0.12 micron. Imagine this level of efficiency, yet air is able to be moved through the filter.

HEPA filters are used primarily in high tech manufacturing applications such as semiconductor production and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The highest efficiencies are used in the semiconductor industry as a single sub-micron size particle can compromise the circuitry of the microprocessor chip. The HEPA filters are typically installed in a ceiling of a room that is commonly referred to as a clean room. Some rooms have cleanliness levels that only allow less than 1 particle per cubic foot of air. The common atmospheric air sample has tens of thousands of particles. Pharmaceuticals commonly use HEPA filters in the 99.97% at 0.3 micron to 99.99% efficiency. Their demands are not as stringent as the semiconductor industry but they still employ clean room technology to protect the integrity of their products. HEPA filters are also used in nuclear containment, some food and beverage production, and even to protect workers where they may be exposed to hazardous materials such as asbestos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another critical application of HEPA filters includes medical facilities. Typically used in th

e ceiling or HVAC systems serving the operating suites they protect the patient from infection and employees and visitors from airborne organisms. As of recent, they are now being installed in critical care patient rooms to protect the compromised patient. As a result, mortality rate reduction has been confirmed through these facility upgrades.

HEPA filters now come in many different configurations, yet all still have the requirement of efficiency testing and certification to meet the definition.

They are even manufactured for high temperature applications, up to 2000 degrees (F).

The term HEPA has been misused in terms of consumer marketing. In some cases it has been used when referring to vacuum cleaner filters, water filters, even residential furnace filters. These products do not meet the industry definitions nor do they have the required minimum efficiency of 99.97% at 0.3 micron. Critical applications, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food or beverage and especially medical facilities deserve HEPA filter application knowledge. For assistance with your application Camfil is an excellent technology reference.

 

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