Negative Ion Purifier Effects on Indoor Particulate Dosage to Small Airways

Mengjie Duan, Lijuan Wang, Xingyan Meng, Linzhi Fu, Yi Wang, Wannian Liang and Li Liu
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Mengjie Duan: Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Lijuan Wang: State Key Laboratory of Green Building in Western China, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China
Xingyan Meng: State Key Laboratory of Green Building in Western China, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China
Linzhi Fu: State Key Laboratory of Green Building in Western China, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China
Yi Wang: State Key Laboratory of Green Building in Western China, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China
Wannian Liang: Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Li Liu: Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Indoor air quality is an important health factor as we spend more than 80% of our time indoors. The primary type of indoor pollutant is particulate matter, high levels of which increase respiratory disease risk. Therefore, air purifiers are a common choice for addressing indoor air pollution. Compared with traditional filtration purifiers, negative ion air purifiers (NIAPs) have gained popularity due to their energy efficiency and lack of noise. Although some studies have shown that negative ions may offset the cardiorespiratory benefits of air purifiers, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. In this study, we conducted a full-scale experiment using an in vitro airway model connected to a breathing simulator to mimic inhalation. The model was constructed using computed tomography scans of human airways and 3D-printing technology. We then quantified the effects of NIAPs on the administered dose of 0.5–2.5 μm particles in the small airway. Compared with the filtration purifier, the NIAP had a better dilution effect after a 1-h exposure and the cumulative administered dose to the small airway was reduced by 20%. In addition, increasing the negative ion concentration helped reduce the small airway exposure risk. NIAPs were found to be an energy-efficient air purification intervention that can effectively reduce the small airway particle exposure when a sufficient negative ion concentration is maintained.

Keywords: indoor air quality; airway replica; inhalation exposure; size distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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