HOBEL won EPFL Science Seed Fund!
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"Exploring the unintended consequences of air cleaning chemistry" proposed by the head of HOBEL - Dusan Licina won EPFL Science Seed Fund! EPFL Science Seed Fund is a funds from EPFL Presidency to foster scientific exchange and encourage new collaborations in 2022. Only eight projects were selected in 2022.
Exploring the unintended consequences of air cleaning chemistry
Licina, Dusan (Human-Oriented Built Environment Lab, ENAC)
Nenes, Athanasios (Laboratory of atmospheric processes and their impacts, ENAC)
During the global COVID-19 pandemic, ultraviolet (UV) and ionization air disinfection devices have been widely implemented in buildings as an active cleaning technique to remove or inactivate airborne viruses. However, they can also induce a variety of unintended gas-phase chemical reactions of indoor air pollutants which may lead to acute and chronic effects on the human respiratory system and health. HOBEL and LAPI research groups propose to conduct a set of novel experiments to (1) to characterize the byproducts formation and transformation of gaseous air pollutants due to the operation of air disinfection devices under different indoor activities and assess occupants’ exposure; (2) to understand the influence of the operational conditions of building ventilation systems (e.g., humidity, ventilation rate) on the transformation processes; and (3) to investigate the fate and removal mechanisms of the air disinfection byproducts.
In a unique environmental chamber at EPFL Fribourg campus with advanced building control technologies, the gas- and particle-phase air pollutants will be monitored by the state-of-the-art online mass spectrometer and aerosol instruments. Two types of common and commercially available air disinfection products will be tested, including portable UV air cleaner and portable ionization air cleaner. This study is expected to provide new insights into the formation and fate of air disinfection byproducts and human exposure science.