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Language: English

Conflict of Interest: In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication history: Received December 21, 2011
Accepted September 2, 2012

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Removal characteristics and distribution of indoor tobacco smoke particles using a room air cleaner

Sunghak Jung Youngchull Ahn^1† Yoochul Lee² Jaekeun Lee³

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, San 30, Jangjeon-dong, Keumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Korea ¹Department of Architectural Engineering, Pusan National University, San 30, Jangjeon-dong, Keumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Korea ²Department of Industrial Engineering, Pusan National University, San 30, Jangjeon-dong, Keumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Korea ³EcoEnergy Research Institute, Busan Techno Park 1274, Jisa-dong, Gangseo-gu, Busan 618-230, Korea

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, February 2013, 30(2), 351-356(6), 10.1007/s11814-012-0151-8

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Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the removal characteristics and distribution of indoor air pollutants by a room air cleaner. A pollutant removal effect according to room volume and measurement point was evaluated in an indoor room. A series of filtration efficiency tests were performed on only the electrostatic precipitator of the room air cleaner. The measurements of filter efficiency and pressure drop across the electrostatic precipitator were made using an ASHRAE 52.1-1992 filter test system and an opacity meter to measure the particle concentration upstream and downstream of the test filter. Also the performance of the air cleaner in the room was evaluated by examining tobacco smoke particle concentration. The size distribution of the tobacco smoke particles was 1.27 μm in mass median diameter and a geometric standard deviation of 1.313 μm. The efficiency of the electrostatic filter was measured as 78.6% with dust_x000D_ particles of 1.96 μm in mass median diameter and 1.5m/s face velocity. The tobacco smoke particle concentration as a function of time decayed exponentially. The contaminant removal effect was increased when increasing the effective clean air exchange rate (ηQ/V), which is 0.0780 min.1 for 51 m3 room and 0.0235 min^(-1) for 149 m3 room. This study clearly shows that a room air cleaner with an electrostatic precipitator is effective in removing tobacco smoke particles. The removal characteristics and distribution of indoor air pollutants in other rooms is predicted based on empirical modeling.

Keywords

Indoor Air Quality Ventilation Natural Decay Electrostatic Precipitator Tobacco Smoke Effective Clear Air Rate

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