HVAC & AIR QUALITY
BREATHINGEASIER
A new filtration technology out of a university research laboratory is proving to be a game- changer in the fight against smoke produced by a growing number of global wildfires, says Greg Rankin, a Houston-based freelance writer.
A surge in the frequency, severity, and duration of wildfires around the globe has become increasingly problematic. One of the most concerning issues surrounding these fires is the widespread smoke that they produce. A prime example is the Canadian wildfires of 2023 which impacted large portions of North America with Air Quality Index (AQI) values frequently below safe levels. In fact, at times more than a third of the American population was under an air quality alert. Smoke also penetrated homes, schools, and businesses with numerous people reporting bouts of coughing, wheezing, headaches and even difficulty breathing. While that wildfire raged on for months, Europe and Australia were also dealing with deadly infernos and smoke-filled skies.
Prolonged exposure to smoke can cause a range of health problems making the escalation of wildfires more troubling. Even when ventilation systems are present, smoke particles can be difficult to remove from indoor air, and it is those microscopic particles that present the biggest health threat. However, an innovative technology coming out of a university research laboratory is showing the potential to play a key role in this battle.
The new filtration technology, called SPAR (Smoke and Pathogen Air Removal) – formerly known as FIL-TEX – removes smoke by actively attracting and capturing the smoke particles from the indoor air.
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It was originally developed by a team led by Dr. Warren Jasper, a professor in the Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science Department at the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University (NC State University). Ironically, the device he invented was not intentionally designed to eliminate indoor smoke.
“It really came about by accident,” says Jasper. “I was looking at how particles get absorbed onto fibers, particularly when using charged polymers. When you charge the particles, you get improved filtration efficiencies at lower pressure drops.”
A happy accident This led Jasper to theorize about the possibility of a more active approach to filtration. The innovation he came up with took electrodes made up of stainless-steel yarns and embedded them onto non-conducting yarns – like cotton, polyester, Kevlar, or even recycled plastic. This creates a non-thermal plasma field on the surface of the textile media.
“We really had no idea how well it would work,” adds Jasper. “Turns out it increased the filtration efficiency somewhere between a factor of 10,000 to 100,000, which was amazing.”
Jasper’s team then began testing to see what other types of particles the new active filtration device could
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