Air Cleaners - News and Updates

Activated Carbon

November 29th, 2023 | Posted in Air Cleaners

What Is Activated Carbon? This is an extremely porous material. It has been described as a microporous inert carbon matrix. Activated carbon is generated in a two-step process. First a material high in carbon such as wood, coal, peat, or in case or activated carbon for removal of airborne odor and hydrocarbon contaminants, coconut shells. This material is heated to 600 to 900 degrees Celsius in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere creating a carbon “char”. In the…

Mist Collector Benefits Beyond Employee Health And Safety

June 19th, 2023 | Posted in Air Cleaners

When working to very close tolerances, variations of 10 or 20 in shop temperature can make a difference in critical part dimensions. For example, the thermal expansion coefficient of stainless steel (which varies somewhat depending on the alloy) is approximately 5.2 to 9.6 millionths of an inch/inch diameter per degree Fahrenheit[i]. Therefore a 20 degrees F difference can make a dimensional difference of 118 to 192 millionths, or about 1 or 2 tenths of a thousandth…

What’s So Special About HEPA?

March 2nd, 2023 | Posted in Air Cleaners

We read a lot about HEPA filtration when dealing with indoor air quality concerns. That leads one to ask: “What’s so special about HEPA?” High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters (also known as H13 or H14 filters in many countries) are media-type filters with an extraordinarily high filtration efficiency. By definition, new HEPA filters can remove airborne particles of 0.3 microns in diameter with 99.97% efficiency. The 0.3 micron criterion is selected because that particle…

Pollution Control Units (PCUs) for Restaurant Kitchen Exhaust

February 6th, 2023 | Posted in Air Cleaners

Many people enjoy the smell of a grilled steak or hamburger, or Chinese food sizzling in the wok. For those living next door to a restaurant, however, these cooking aromas can quickly become cooking “odors” and are often considered to be tiresome and may result in odor complaints. These complaints may lead to the landlord of a leased restaurant space requiring the restaurant to install a kitchen exhaust Pollution Control Unit (PCU) to address these objections. It…

Mist Collection Technologies

January 11th, 2023 | Posted in Air Cleaners

There are three common types of mist collectors: Electrostatic Precipitators Media Filtration Centrifugal Collectors Let’s look at how they work and their relative strengths and weaknesses. Electrostatic Precipitators or Electronic Air Cleaners Coolant mist removal starts with an impinger section. This typically consists of either a series of chevron-shaped plates or a coarse metal mesh. The larger spray and mist droplets impact the impinger and adhere to the plates or mesh. The accumulated coolant flows by…

Why Not Put Employees In Respirators?

October 14th, 2022 | Posted in Air Cleaners

That seems like a perfectly sensible question to ask. If there is an airborne health hazard, wouldn’t it be reasonable to use respirators to control employee exposures? It is not, however, as simple as just calling up the safety supply house and ordering some respirators. There is a federal regulation, 29 CFR 1910.134, that governs the use of respirators for controlling health hazards in the workplace. This is the OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard and it imposes a number…

Why HEPA Air Cleaners Are A Top Choice For School Nurses’ Offices

August 1st, 2022 | Posted in Air Cleaners

Keeping our kids safe is a top priority, especially in higher-risk areas like school nurses’ offices. Although your nurse’s office space may be cleaned and disinfected frequently, it’s important to take precautions that will minimize the potential transmission of airborne viruses. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the use of portable air cleaners with HEPA filters, which are some of the products we offer at Air Quality Engineering. What Are…

How To Clean An Electronic Air Cleaner Cell

July 19th, 2022 | Posted in Air Cleaners

How do electronic air cleaners work? Two stage electrostatic precipitators are composed of two sections, a charging section and a collection section. The charging section uses ionizer wires to impart a positive charge to the incoming smoke, fume and dust particles. The charged particles are then drawn into a secondary electric field where they are collected on a series of metal plates. Then, the electrostatic precipitators re-circulate clean air into the general airstream. Over time, the collector section metal plates become…

Air Filtration Units for Shelters & Other Shared Spaces

June 30th, 2022 | Posted in Air Cleaners

Homeless shelters, women’s shelters, auxiliary rooms at churches, and similar facilities provide an essential service by helping to protect some of the most vulnerable individuals in our community. As such, it’s important for these spaces to be comfortable, safe, and healthy, especially regarding to air quality. To mitigate airborne transmission of allergens, dust, viruses, and more in these high-risk areas, we offer HEPA air filtration units that will meet your indoor air quality needs. Take…

Comparing ISO 16890 To ASHRAE 52.2

June 22nd, 2022 | Posted in Air Cleaners

If you are looking for an air cleaning unit for your environment, what measurement is there to determining how efficient any particular unit is, and what does that data mean? The two standards you will probably come across are ASHRAE Standard 52.2-2017 and ISO 16890. They are different in what they report, but they can be compared to help you understand how effective an air filtration unit is. Why we need air cleaners The American…