Can the Air Purifier Remove Formaldehyde?

In recent years, more and more people are aware of the harmfulness of air pollution, and have begun to use air purifiers to improve air quality and ensure a healthy environment. At the same time, air purifiers are also used to remove formaldehyde with a long incubation period in the home environment.

Judging by the reaction, some say air purifiers can remove formaldehyde, others say they can't.Whether or not air purifiers can remove formaldehyde?

The production and harm of formaldehyde

First of all, let's understand how formaldehyde is produced and how it is harmful to our health.The source of formaldehyde basically has 3 points: the first is the various kinds of artificial plank that used when new home is decorated, still have the adhesive between plank;The 2nd is indoor furniture, the adhesive that furniture assembles USES also can increase formaldehyde content in the home further.The coating paint that the final is metope and wallpaper latex also can cause indoor formaldehyde content to exceed bid possibly.

Long-term exposure to formaldehyde can cause chronic poisoning and even lead to cancer, especially in growing adolescents, excessive levels of formaldehyde may also cause childhood leukemia, memory and mental decline.Formaldehyde is a harmful gas that has been latent for a long time, and may harm the health of family members for 3-15 years. However, it is difficult to eradicate it by conventional methods. Therefore, whether the air purifier can effectively remove formaldehyde has become the focus of attention.

Principle and structure of air purifier to remove formaldehyde 

The principle of air purifier is to promote the circulation of air through the air exchange system, and the air to be filtered will flow into 3-4 layers of filter screen from the air inlet, and the formaldehyde molecules in the air will be adsorbed and decomposed, and the formaldehyde content in the air will be reduced after continuous circulation, finally achieving the purpose of purifying formaldehyde.

At present, most of the filter screen choices of air purifiers on the market follow the mode of "primary effect + activated carbon + high efficiency" to accumulate, and the first layer isolates large particles.The second layer decomposes harmful gases such as formaldehyde, and the third layer removes fine particles such as PM2.5.

Among them, there are generally three kinds of filter nets for formaldehyde filtration. First, most of them use activated carbon as the main adsorbent for formaldehyde removal. It is a porous carbon with low accumulation density and large specific surface area, which can absorb a variety of gaseous pollutants including formaldehyde and toluene.The second is the negative oxygen ion, which breaks the chemical bonds of organic pollutants such as formaldehyde and degrades them into carbon dioxide and water.The third is a catalyst, called a photocatalyst, which dissolves harmful gases such as formaldehyde by ionizing surrounding water and oxygen molecules under light.

In practice, the formaldehyde removal rate of air purifier is low

The active carbon, negative oxygen ion and photocatalyst in the air purifier are effective to a certain extent, but the symptoms are not the root cause.Some products in the publicity mentioned that the formaldehyde purification rate is 80%, even as high as 95%, the official propaganda data is generally the laboratory effect, and the laboratory due to the limitation of equipment can not really simulate real life, therefore, in the actual effect can be calculated in the laboratory of 30% to 50%.

In addition, the activated carbon in the filter can only absorb formaldehyde and cannot achieve the purpose of thorough removal, if the use time is too long to cause its saturation, the adsorption effect will be greatly reduced, the effect of removing formaldehyde can not be effectively guaranteed.For photocatalyst, because the condition that triggers its effect is light, it is usually impossible to use at night, and formaldehyde is volatile all the time, so its effect is greatly reduced.

Ventilation and air purifiers are used in combination

The volatilization of formaldehyde degree can take up to 15 years, so I can't clear out in a short period of time, air purifier can't assure indoor formaldehyde content down to zero, and methods such as ventilation and planting green plants, and has no pollution in a short period of time to reduce home outfit, so the removal of formaldehyde in the air, the correct way is combined air purifiers and other methods, the effect is much better.When decorating for instance, choose solid wood furniture and green coating to wait as far as possible.At the same time, try to choose ventilation when conditions are available, and when it is not convenient for ventilation, you can use an air purifier to remove formaldehyde, effectively remove formaldehyde, toluene and other gaseous pollutants, improve indoor air quality, to ensure quality of life.