Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the performance of a high-efficiency Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) filter and a top-of-the line Automotive Cabin Air (ACA) filter challenged with particles generated by the combustion of paper, wood, and plastic as well as with NaCl particles. The collection of submicron particles was examined under conditions representing two typical indoor air flow rates for the HVAC filter and two cabin fan control levels for the ACA filter. For the HVAC filter, almost all the collection efficiency values exceeded 80%; for the ACA filter, the collect efficiencies were much lower (＜ 40%) for all the tested aerosols and flow rates. Both filters demonstrated lower collection efficiency for combustion aerosols as compared to NaCl. This finding was consistent for all tested particle sizes and flow rates. The difference was always statistically significant in terms of the total efficiency (combining all sizes); however, the size-specific analysis of the differences revealed that the significance level varied with the particle size and flow rate. When tested under their operational flow conditions, the HVAC filter showed significantly better performance than the ACA filter. It was concluded that the filter performance characteristics of the HVAC and ACA filters obtained using well-established salt aerosol challenges may not accurately predict the performance of these filters against combustion aerosol particles. The difference was attributed to the interactions between the particles and filter fibers.
Highlights
Indoor exposure to submicrometer-sized and nano-sized particles, including those generated by combustion, has received increased attention
The pressure drop should increase linearly as the face velocity increases (Liu et al, 2011); the experimental data support this expectation for the HVAC filter, but not precisely for the Automotive Cabin Air (ACA) filter, which is likely associated with the limit of detection of the Magnehelic® gauge (0.05 mm H2O) as well as the boundary effects
The pressure drop of the HVAC filter and the ACA filter used in this study did not exceed 0.6 mm H2O, which is lower than the levels reported in previous investigations, where the authors apparently tested filter materials characterized by greater resistance and/or used different testing protocols
Summary
Indoor exposure to submicrometer-sized and nano-sized particles, including those generated by combustion, has received increased attention. Combustion particles infiltrate homes from outdoors; they are generated by various indoor activities (Stephens and Siegel, 2013). A significant association between acute asthma and increased levels of residential wood smoke particles has been reported (Boman et al, 2003). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified indoor emissions from the household combustion of biomass fuels (primarily wood). During daily commutes, drivers and passengers are exposed to high concentrations of aerosol pollutants emitted by mobile sources, primarily on-road vehicles. It has been shown that exposure to air pollutants in an automobile cabin is high because of the proximity of passengers to relatively concentrated emissions from other automobiles
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