From testing emissions at the roadside, to ambient air quality monitoring indoors; the importance of air quality testing is critical to understanding what might be harming us in the air we breathe.
The TADIRAN AIROW 3™ has undergone several tests in laboratory settings, helping to demonstrate just how effective the technology is and just how important proper testing of air purification systems is too.
Why is air quality testing important?
Air quality testing is crucial in order to understand the types and concentrations of pollutants that are in the air, both indoors and outdoors.
Air pollution outdoors is typically caused by industrial methods that emit harmful gasses and road traffic exhaust fumes. It has long been known that these types of pollutants are harmful to human and environmental health. In recent years, indoor air quality is garnering more attention and the air found indoors, in homes, offices, and industrial workplaces is facing scrutiny. Air quality testing has helped us understand that these indoor spaces may be far more polluted and harmful to our health than we previously thought.
How is testing part of air quality control?
Testing enables governments and independent organizations to assess levels of pollutants and check them against regulatory requirements. Testing also helps assess if companies and countries are complying with regulations that are designed to limit air pollution and protect air quality both indoors and outdoors.
Testing air quality can help identify potential sources of pollutants, such as traffic emissions, that could harm pedestrians walking through busy cities, or employees working in high-risk environments. Testing is also fundamental for planning and decision-making, so that air quality can be protected during processes such as construction of large infrastructure projects, like highways.
Measuring pollutant concentrations: the importance of accurate measurements
Accurately measuring pollutant concentrations is a critical aspect of air quality testing and monitoring. Without data that captures the reality of our air quality indoors and outdoors, harmful pollutants could go undetected, and long-term damage to the environment and to the population could be the result.
Laboratories and equipment used to test in real-world settings can offer insightful data to help governments and organizations understand any potential hazardous airborne pollutants that might be actively reducing air quality.
How is air quality testing carried out?
Air quality testing can be carried out in multiple ways, including one or more of the following methods identified below:
- Source sampling. Samples of air emissions are collected directly from the location where they are emitted from, such as from the exhaust pipe of a vehicle or close to power plant smokestacks, which releases byproduct gasses into the atmosphere. Much of this type of source sampling is checking for toxic or environmentally harmful gasses such as CO2. Some tests will take place in laboratories, such as testing vehicle emissions, which allows for effective capture of data.
- Ambient air monitoring. This method is different from source sampling, as it tests general ambient conditions, rather than specific concentrations being emitted from the source. Like source sampling, ambient air monitoring will use sensors, filters, and other instruments to collect and to analyze information on what kinds of particulate matter can be found in the air.
- Passive sampling. Using a diffusion tube or a badge, air samples are collected over a period of time and assessed to give data that spans months or years of air pollution figures.
- Indoor air quality testing. This type of testing is different to the previous three types mentioned above, although it may incorporate elements of their testing methods. This is because indoor air quality can sometimes focus on identifying pollutants at their source or is simply performed to monitor overall air quality. Pollutants that these tests can identify include mold, bacteria, viruses, radon, CO2, VOC, and dust particles.
- Remote sensing. Remote sensors might include ground-based sensors or satellite images. Although they work in different ways, both help to monitor air quality over vast areas, and can help to identify sources of pollution, as well as monitor overall air quality over prolonged periods of time.
- Product testing. Certain products that state they can improve air quality can also undergo testing in laboratories to assess the efficacy of the technology in agreement with their claims. An example of this is the testing that the TADIRAN AIROW 3™ underwent to assess how effective the air purification device can be against airborne pathogens.
Laboratory air quality testing on the TADIRAN AIROW 3™
Laboratory tests are a great tool to validate a product’s effectiveness and performance against the claims made by the manufacturer or any other third parties. Testing on the TADIRAN AIROW 3™ has been conducted in leading laboratories around the world. These tests assess how much a particular bacteria, mold, or virus has been depleted in an enclosed area, following the use of the TADIRAN AIROW 3™ purification device.
The TADIRAN AIROW 3™ uses a discharge current to break apart oxygen molecules into two separate atoms (from O2 to two O atoms). These free oxygen atoms are then combined with water molecules in the airflow. The result is hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) which is distributed via the HVAC around the conditioned indoor space. The result is purified air, with most pathogens and pollutants neutralized when they collide with the hydrogen peroxide.
Results from tests show that the TADIRAN AIROW 3™ is highly effective at purifying air and improving air quality. Tests in the Kitasato Research Center for Environmental Science in Japan assessed the reduction of aerosolized Blue Mold (Penicillium Citrinum) and results showed an active reduction of 99.4% in a 25 cubic meter chamber after 180 minutes.
Testing in the FDA-cleared Aerosol Research and Engineering Laboratory showed that the Staphylococcus Epidermidis bacteria was greatly reduced after a 60 minute period. Only 0.006% of the bacteria was detected in the one cubic meter chamber where testing took place.
The same laboratory also tested the impact of the TADIRAN AIROW 3™ on the RNA Virus MS2 Bacteriophage and found an active reduction of 99.994% after a 60 minute period.
These air quality tests are critical for ensuring that Tadiran’s air purification technology works effectively and can rapidly reduce and continuously remove airborne pollutants that are trapped in indoor spaces.
Technology that’s tested and trusted: the TADIRAN AIROW 3™
Indoor air quality can be easily improved with the help of small and quiet devices fixed to HVAC systems, like the TADIRAN AIROW 3™. This device can operate continuously, neutralizing harmful bio-pollutants wherever it’s installed, be it at residential, commercial and industrial locations. This technology is highly effective, with air quality tests demonstrating almost total elimination of tested pathogens, helping people breathe purer air indoors.
