Time to breathe easy indoors
The air we breathe is crucial to life, and every effort should be made to ensure clean air for Europe's citizens and the world at large. Industries and SMEs, such as those in the agri-food business, do not always have optimal breathing conditions within their walls, prompting a need for effective indoor filtering technology. Moreover, contaminants found in the air can cause allergies, foster bacterial growth and contain harmful compounds such as ammonia. The EU-funded project 'A Novel integrated filter system to remove hazardous organic dusts from breathing air' (Volt-Air) has developed a self-cleaning, activated carbon filter to remove particulate matter and toxic fumes from the air. The system featured an innovative multi-electrode precipitator and unique properties to neutralise gasses, trap large particles and 'zap' bacteria. Electric-field plasma and ozone regeneration ensure constant low pressure in the atmosphere and keep maintenance costs down, as does the self-cleaning feature. The system showed almost 100 % efficiency in removing smoke and particulates that are 0.3 microns in size. It particularly demonstrated excellent grease removal as well as high efficiency in removing organic odour compounds from pig faeces and cooking. A feedback monitoring system was also designed to ensure online filtering efficiency, ozone output and energy efficiency. Stakeholders interested in the technology have expressed a strong desire to exploit the results, which were disseminated through exhibitions and the project website as well as through other means. The prospect of seeing a high-efficiency, self-cleaning, low-cost multi-electrode filter in the future that works for the benefit of European industry is very high.
