Air Purifier with Carbon Filter

Air purifiers with carbon filters offer many advantages when it comes to purifying the air. Carbon filters are excellent at removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and gaseous pollutants from the air. Fiber-based air filters can trap particles such as the particulates found in smoke, dust, allergens, bacteria, and viruses. An activated carbon filter and fibrous media filter combined into one air filtration system can remove multiple types of air pollutants.

Air purifiers often make use of a fiber-based filter, and how air filters work is very straightforward. An air filter that uses a fibrous medium traps particles when they collide with individual fibers in the filter. The particles are so small that merely coming into contact with a fiber is enough to catch them out of the air stream. This differs from air cleaner, which aim to kill or otherwise render harmless airborne pathogens. An air cleaning system is designed to try to make bacteria, viruses, and mold in the air unable to cause infections. This means that an air cleaner or air sanitizer may leave particles in the air that an air filter would remove.

The Benefits of Filtered Air

Air purifiers with carbon filters can have a variety of health benefits. For people with allergies to pet dander, air filtering can significantly reduce allergic reactions. Air filters remove pet dander, pollen, and mold from the air, three major allergens.

In addition to the specific substances that trigger allergic reactions, high amounts of particulate matter in the air have been linked to a wide range of negative health outcomes.¹ Polluted air doesn’t just negatively affect the lungs. High particulate matter air has been linked with increased cardiovascular problems, meaning breathing dirty air can hurt your heart.²

Air purifiers with carbon filters have different levels of effectiveness. The High Efficiency Particulate Air filter standard (HEPA) in the United States requires at least 99.97% of particulate matter that is 0.3 microns in radius be removed. Some industrial and research applications require that the air have even lower amounts of particulate matter, and the Ultra Low Particulate Air filter standard requires 99.999% reduction in particle count. These standards not only measure much of the particulate matter is removed from the air, but also how efficiently it is done. An air filter that removes particulate matter but requires enormous amounts of energy isn’t as useful as one that does so efficiently. That is why the HEPA and ULPA standards include minimum airflow requirements.

Carbon Filtration

Fiber-based filters are great at capturing small, solid particles that can be stopped by coming into contact with the filter fibers. However, some pollutants do not exist in the air as solids. They may instead be gaseous or even small droplets of liquids. Volatile organic compounds, like benzene or acetone, often present as solvents in household paints or glues, and can cause cancer or lung irritation.

Activated carbon readily absorbs these compounds from the air. Activated carbon or activated charcoal is carbon (usually charcoal) that has been processed to increase the surface area. This means that one gram of activated carbon can have a quarter acre of surface area. All that surface gives a lot of area for volatile organic compounds and other non-solid pollutants to become trapped.

Some carbon filters are designed to be reused or recycled. The process of recharging or reactivating a carbon filter releases all the captured toxins and pollutants into the air. Activated carbon recycling takes place at special recycling facilities that capture and process the pollutants into harmless compounds.³