General Information
Indoor Air Quality
Considering that the average American now spends 90% of their time inside, indoor air pollution is considered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be a major environmental health problem. Today’s tightly sealed, energy efficient buildings and homes do keep utility costs down but seal in pollutants and pathogens which cause odor, mold and illness as well as allergies.
As the EPA states:
“The quality of indoor air inside offices, schools, and other workplaces is important not only for workers’ comfort but also for their health. Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has been tied to symptoms like headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating, and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs.”
“The quality of indoor air inside offices, schools, and other workplaces is important not only for workers’ comfort but also for their health. Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has been tied to symptoms like headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating, and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs.”
— The EPA
How It Works
Our active air purification units employ a proprietary enhancement to the established photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) technology developed more than 20 years ago. This advanced product: Active Photodynamic Oxidation Technology is the foundation of our air purification instruments currently being used to disinfect indoor air and surfaces. PCO has been proven to kill many bacteria, viruses, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), molds, fungus, and odors wherever they reside. This is in contrast to some air only purification systems dependent upon airflow passing through the unit or through filters. PCO technology has been proven both safe and effective in laboratory and industrial testing. PCO technology, similar to that used in our air purifier products, has been licensed for use in medical, food, military, residential, commercial, marine, and hospital applications. They have been approved or registered by UL, ETL, FCC, TUV, CE, and CSA. NASA uses PCO technology on the International Space Station.
Active Photocatalytic Oxidation Technology is licensed for use in over 1 million individual devices globally in the medical, food retailing, military, beauty, residential, commercial, marine, and hospitality industries. PCO Devices have been specified in the Norovirus and MRSA protection plan for some of America’s largest restaurant franchises, hotel chains, theme parks, cruise lines, public schools, and hospitals. Away from Earth, PCO employing instrumentation is deployed aboard the International Space Station. The heart of our air purifiers is a low wattage UV light bulb enclosed in a solid structure (the “catalyst”) coated with Titanium Dioxide and other nanoscale elements. When the UV light is turned on, the catalyst is irradiated, and a gaseous state is then created directly above its surface (often called “metastate”).
As air passes over the metastate, large clusters of positively and negatively charged ions are formed. As these ion clusters are released into an interior environment, they can be attracted to a negatively or positively charged cell of a pathogen (virus or bacteria), and they can breakdown chemicals such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
For pathogens, a minute electrical charge is then released, piercing the cell of the pathogen and killing it, even a cell as small as a virus. For VOCs, the multi-clustered ions chemically transform the VOC into carbon dioxide and water vapor. Our active air purification units increased the effectiveness of its PCO process by its unique configuration and catalyst design.
Our air purification systems have further enhanced the microbial-killing effectiveness and efficiency of the original technology by more than 50%. Unlike other Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Systems (i.e., HEPA filtration, Germicidal UV, UV Robots, Negative Ionizers, Ozonators), our air purification systems destroy microbes in the air, on surfaces, and in crevices, on a continual basis, with a technology that is safe for humans and animals.
Indoor Air Quality
Considering that the average American now spends 90% of their time inside, indoor air pollution is considered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be a major environmental health problem. Today’s tightly sealed, energy efficient buildings and homes do keep utility costs down but seal in pollutants and pathogens which cause odor, mold and illness as well as allergies.
As the EPA states:
“The quality of indoor air inside offices, schools, and other workplaces is important not only for workers’ comfort but also for their health. Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has been tied to symptoms like headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating, and irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs.”
Frequently Asked Questions
This is an active technology. Air need not pass through the unit—or within inches of the device, as is the case with traditional UV devices. With our air purification systems, microbes are destroyed throughout the target environment, wherever they are, whether in the air, on surfaces, or in crevices. Since the PCO products are safe for both humans and animals, it provides continuous protection from pathogens on a 7X24 basis.
The core technology for our air purification systems has been proven through more than 10,000 hours of independent laboratory and university testing and validation. This technology is in use in residential, clinical, and commercial buildings in many countries, and has been used by NASA on the International Space Station to protect the astronauts.
The Ux 105 effectively cleanses an indoor environment up to 5,000 square feet depending upon the pathogen ‘load’ that is present.
The Ux 105 unit plugs into a standard 110v outlet and uses the same amount of energy as a 25W light bulb. The maintenance costs (the bulb should be replaced every 3 years) plus electrical costs over a three-year period are approximately $150. In comparison, the typical HEPA filter replacement costs and electrical costs over the same period is substantially more, and the filter will not kill the pathogens, and its disposal presents environmental concerns
Because they destroy individual microbials and the reservoirs in which they multiply, our air purification instruments break not one but two of the critical links in the “chain of infection” cited in Joint Commission infection-control guidelines. Indoor air quality is a priority of both the Occupational Safety, Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Among the contaminants of concern, both cite are viruses, bacterium, mold spores, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—those specifically targeted by our air purification technology.
Laboratory and onsite testing confirms a cleansing period from just 20 minutes to 12 hours depending upon the carrying capacity(bio load). Factors affecting the total time may include temperature and the degree of humidity in the air.
Because air need not pass through the unit to be treated, the PCO Air Purifier operates effectively whether freestanding, wall-mounted, or within an HVAC duct, and can be placed anywhere within the indoor environment.
PCO technology breaks the first two “links” in the “chain of infection” identified by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Specifically, the photocatalytic oxidation process destroys both the pathogen and the pathogenic reservoir—the place where the microbial lives and grows.
In terms of performance, the technology has been proven more than 99% effective in killing microbial populations (see detailed test results). In terms of longevity, the entire unit is warranted for two full years.