National Laboratory Study Finds that Molekule Air Purifier Effectively Eliminates Common Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) and Ozone in a Room-Sized Environment
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Molekule, the leader in reinventing air purification, today announced that it carried out testing on its breakthrough patented air purification technology: Photo Electrochemical Oxidation (PECO) with one of the world's foremost research laboratories for indoor air quality.
The study, conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), evaluated PECO's pollutant elimination in an environmental chamber. In simulated ventilation conditions with real-world concentrations for four model contaminants, the device demonstrated how PECO can remove the full range of VOCs tested. In addition, the evaluation concluded that the Molekule Air purifier does not generate ozone intentionally, or as a byproduct, which is a known issue for other air purifiers on the market today. Instead, PECO removes ozone from the air to extremely low levels, far lower than what the EPA recommends as safe exposure.
When placed in a room-sized chamber (20 cubic meters) with consistent airflow rates and a continual source of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) injected, the evaluation found that Molekule Air reduced limonene by 95 percent and toluene by 94 percent. It also removed more than 50 percent of formaldehyde from the air, even while all compounds were being continuously injected. You can view the full evaluation here.
"Photocatalysis has been used as an air purification method for many years, and one of the most common problems with traditional air purifiers is the generation of formaldehyde and other undesirable byproducts," said Dr. Yogi Goswami, who invented PECO and is currently a Distinguished Professor and the director of the Clean Energy Research Center at the University of South Florida. He is also the Chief Science and Technology Advisor to Molekule. "Achieving good removal efficiency for formaldehyde is a very challenging test for this technology. Importantly, reducing our exposure to VOCs requires technologies that go beyond particle filtration, as even HEPA filters are not designed to remove VOCs from the air. The removal of ozone from indoor air is extremely important because ozone is not only a harmful chemical by itself, but is also the driver of indoor chemistry that can lead to the formation of other contaminants."
Some indoor VOC pollutants are well known as potential triggers for allergies and asthma, and can be potentially carcinogenic. Importantly, VOC concentrations can be five times higher indoors, where Americans spend 93 percent of their days and 1 in 4 Americans have recently reported some sort of chemical sensitivity, which has grown 200 percent more common in the past decade.
Ozone, which is a known respiratory irritant, is a toxic gas that is harmful to people, triggering health problems such as chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and more.
"The results of PECO in this study further substantiate Molekule's ability to eliminate household pollutants we breathe every day inside our homes," said Dilip Goswami, co-founder and Co-CEO of Molekule. "PECO is creating a paradigm shift in the space for air quality and Berkeley Lab's testing appropriately demonstrates our technology's ability to destroy a greater swath of pollutants than any other air purification technology on the market, while not creating other pollutants as byproducts."
According to the EPA, indoor air quality can be five times dirtier than outdoor air quality, and common household products are often largely to blame. Items like cleaning products, building materials, paints, air fresheners, cosmetics, mattresses, and carpets continuously release – or off-gas – VOCs into the air. The tested chemicals, limonene, toluene and formaldehyde, represent a much larger number of VOCs commonly found indoors. Limonene, a major scent ingredient in cleaning chemicals, can act as an allergen and skin irritant. Very high levels of toluene can affect the central nervous and respiratory systems, liver, and kidneys, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Formaldehyde is carcinogenic and exposure to it can lead to skin, eye, and respiratory irritation, claims backed by the World Health Organization and a large body of research, summarized by Berkeley Lab. For these reasons, people should try to reduce the levels of these pollutants in their environments. In addition to VOCs, ozone is a regulated air pollutant of outdoor origin that can also be found indoors, and can cause respiratory health effects.
PECO's technology is critically distinct from industry-standard filtration and its claims to remove pollutants have now been tested and validated by a multitude of laboratories, including other third-party labs, which you can find here.
About Molekule
Molekule is on a mission to provide clean indoor air to everyone, everywhere. Based on more than 20 years of research and development, our patented photo electrochemical oxidation (PECO) technology destroys a whole range of tiny pollutants, including VOCs, mold, bacteria, viruses and allergens. Using science to revolutionize air purification in ways that the industry hasn't seen, PECO sits at the crux of Molekule's air purification technology and has been rigorously validated by third-party laboratories and continual internal testing. We believe air pollution is one of the greatest challenges of our time, as it has been attributed to seven million premature deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization. This is why we are dedicated to the fight for clean air and are actively working with scientists, doctors, sufferers, and policy-makers to offer a fundamentally different approach to air purification. For more information, visit https://molekule.com.
Molekule Media Contact
Stephanie Borman
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