Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 8.1 A selection of commercially available biological air cleaning products applicable for
indoor applications
Company
name
Country
of origin
Mode of action
Website
Phytofilter
Technologies,
Inc
USA
Plant substrate consisting of activated carbon
and inert materials colonised with
microorganisms. The system is incorporated
into a HVAC system, where air is pumped
under pressure through the substrate
Naturaire/
Nedlaw Living
Walls
Canada
Indoor air is actively drawn through the plant
wall by either the HVAC system or on-board
fans and then returned to the occupied space
ANDREA
France
A personal and portable air purifier, consisting
of a plant with fan fed air to the root zone
CASE
USA
Modular hydroponic plant system that has in
built fans that increase air flow across the
plants' root surface
Junglefy
Australia
Modular plant system that has in built fans that
increases air flow across the plants' root surface
A prototype device (Mittelmark et al.
2009
) has been developed by Phytofilter
Technologies, Inc., which uses a plant substrate consisting of activated carbon and
inert materials colonised with microorganisms. The system is active: the system is
incorporated into an HVAC system, where air is pumped under pressure through
the substrate, which is colonised with the indoor plant Pothos (Epipremnum
aureum). The system has been demonstrated to have high removal efficiency for
formaldehyde and toluene, and this removal efficiency was maintained over
300 + days of continuous operation. Furthermore, the system was found to have
good ventilation energy saving potential based on VOC removal, although the
system does not appear to have been tested for CO
2
emission, which may reduce
its ventilation replacement effectiveness. Phytofilter Technologies is currently
looking
to
develop
a
portable
system
incorporating
this
technology
(
http://
The leading developer of commercial phytoremediation technologies is prob-
ably Naturaire (
www.naturaire.com/function
)
, led by Alan Darlington. The green
wall systems this company and its antecedents have installed in the University of
Guelph in Canada (Naturaire
2014
) and the Canada Life Assurance headquarters
building (Toronto, ON, Canada; Darlington et al.
2001
) are archetypes of inte-
grated green wall systems specifically installed for indoor phytoremediation.
ANDREA (
http://www.andreaair.com/
)
, also known as Bel Air, is the result of a
collaboration between French designer Mathieu Lehanneur and Harvard academic
David Edwards, and is a desktop ''mobile greenhouse''. Essentially a plant with
fan feeding air to the root zone, this personal portable air purifier is a new inno-
vation in this market. Although its air cleaning potential has not been demonstrated
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