Characterization and performance evaluation of a full-scale activated carbon-based dynamic botanical air filtration system for improving indoor air quality

Wang, Zhiqiang; Zhang, Jensen S.

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.10.008

Cited by 97 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Common adsorbent substrates include activated carbon, zeolite and activated alumina. Adsorbents generally suffer from VOC saturation after longterm use, which can be as little as 3-6 months (Chen et al 2005;Wang and Zhang 2011). Furthermore, re-emission of the adsorbed VOCs is possible from some systems (Chen et al 2005), leading to an increased necessity for maintenance.…”

Section: Physiochemical Versus Biological Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…To address this problem, Wang and Zhang (2011) used activated carbon as a support for a microbial biofilter, postulating that in such a system the microbial community may constantly degrade accumulating VOCs, alleviating the need for constant replacement. Their system, installed in a new 96.8 m 2 office, was highly effective: 5 % outdoor air plus biofiltration using plants lead to similar indoor formaldehyde and toluene concentration level as 25 % outdoor air without biofiltration.…”

Section: Hybrid Physiochemical-biological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reducing Indoor Air Pollutants Through Biotechnology

Torpy

Irga

Burchett

2014

Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering

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Indoor environmental quality is a growing concern, as populations become more urbanised and people spend a greater proportion of their lives indoors. Volatile organic compounds outgassing from synthetic materials and carbon dioxide from human respiration have been major indoor air quality concerns. The growing use of energy-efficient recirculating ventilation solutions has led to greater accumulation of these pollutants indoors. A range of physiochemical methods have been developed to remove contaminants from indoor air, but all methods have high maintenance costs and none reduce CO 2 , which some biological systems can achieve effectively with the additional benefit of the selfsustaining capacity of biological material. Bacteria are the major organisms involved in bioremediation of VOCs, although green plants may help sustain the bacterial community and add the capacity for CO 2 reduction to a system. The main problems faced by indoor air bioremediation systems is the extremely low concentrations of VOCs present indoors and the possibility of microbial release. Simple, passive biofiltration with potted green plants may be the simplest and most effective system for indoor air cleaning, but further research into substrate types, ventilation, and the microbiology of biodegradation processes is required to reveal their ultimate potential. Purely microbial systems have potential for the bioamelioration of high concentrations of toxic gases, but not without significant maintenance costs. Despite many years of study and substantial market demand, a proven formula for indoor air bioremediation for all applications is yet to be developed.

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Section: Physiochemical Versus Biological Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Hybrid Physiochemical-biological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Indoor Air Pollutants Through Biotechnology

Torpy

Irga

Burchett

2014

Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering

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“…In the trend of indoor greening, green wall technology has led to the development of activated systems, termed botanical biofilters, that move air through the plant growth substrate to increase the rate at which the interior atmospheric environment is exposed to the components of the plantsubstrate system that are active in air pollutant removal [10]. The majority of research that has been conducted on green wall had focused on defining it as botanical indoor air biofilter (BIAB) that can remove VOC, CO2 and particulate matter [10][11][12][13]. For example, Irga et al [10] determined the effectiveness of BIAB in reducing PM2.5 and PM10 that evaluated with single-pass filtration efficiency and compare with portable in-room air cleaner.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The design of the botanical indoor air biofilter system for the atmospheric particle removal

2018

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Abstract. Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) objective generally focus on providing energizing and comfortable environments for occupants and minimizing the risk of building-related health problems. Living green walls are natural air-filters that creates a cleaner and revitalizing work environment that will lead to better IEQ. The research presented here describes the design (the new concept) of the botanical indoor air biofilter (BIAB) and modelling conducted to determine the effectiveness of the system in reducing the indoor airborne particulate matter levels. The BIAB was also evaluated for its single-pass filtration for particles ranging in diameter from 2.5 to 10 µm along with total suspended particles. The system is comprised of three functional components; a region of vertically grown plants as botanical section, an evaporative cooling pad as cooling section (additional section from a commercial BIAB), and a mechanical ventilation system that supply cool filtered air to surrounding. The complete system recorded highest removal efficiencies of 85% for TSP, 75.2% for PM2.5, and 71.9% for PM10. It indicated that with the additional component in the BIAB system (cooling component), it provides enhancement of the particulate removal due to the ability in absorbing the dust particles and filtration dynamics as the polluted air pass through the wetted cooling pad and the light shower of water.

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“…Bioprocesses, such as biotrickling filters (Lu et al, 2010), biofilters (Wolverton et al, 1984;Wolverton and Wolverton, 1993;Ondarts et al, 2012), or the use of plants (Orwell et al, 2004;Wang and Zhang, 2011), have already been successfully used to remove VOCs in effluents with constant/unvarying concentrations. By this technique, microorganisms are generally the main removal agents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A hybrid biological process of indoor air treatment for toluene removal

Hort

Platel

Sochard

et al. 2014

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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Bioprocesses, such as biofiltration, are commonly used to treat industrial effluents containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at low concentrations. Nevertheless, the use of biofiltration for indoor air pollution (IAP) treatment requires adjustments depending on specific indoor environments. Therefore, this study focuses on the convenience of a hybrid biological process for IAP treatment. A biofiltration reactor using a green waste compost was combined with an adsorption column filled with activated carbon (AC). This system treated a toluene-micropolluted effluent (concentration between 17 and 52 µg/m 3 ), exhibiting concentration peaks close to 733 µg/m 3 for a few hours per day. High removal efficiency was obtained despite changes in toluene inlet load (from 4.2 × 10 −3 to 0.20 g/m 3 /hr), which proves the hybrid system's effectiveness. In fact, during unexpected concentration changes, the efficiency of the biofilter is greatly decreased, but the adsorption column maintains the high efficiency of the entire process (removal efficiency [RE] close to 100%). Moreover, the adsorption column after biofiltration is able to deal with the problem of the emission of particles and/or microorganisms from the biofilter.Implications: Indoor air pollution is nowadays recognized as a major environmental and health issue. This original study investigates the performance of a hybrid biological process combining a biofilter and an adsorption column for removal of indoor VOCs, specifically toluene.

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Characterization and performance evaluation of a full-scale activated carbon-based dynamic botanical air filtration system for improving indoor air quality

Cited by 97 publications

References 14 publications

Reducing Indoor Air Pollutants Through Biotechnology

Reducing Indoor Air Pollutants Through Biotechnology

The design of the botanical indoor air biofilter system for the atmospheric particle removal

A hybrid biological process of indoor air treatment for toluene removal

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