An Electrospray-Based, Ozone-Free Air Purification Technology Gary Tepper Virginia Commonwealth University, [email protected]
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by VCU Scholars Compass Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Publications Dept. of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering 2007 An electrospray-based, ozone-free air purification technology Gary Tepper Virginia Commonwealth University, [email protected] Royal Kessick Sentor Technologies Incorporated Dmitry Pestov Virginia Commonwealth University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/egmn_pubs Part of the Mechanical Engineering Commons, and the Nuclear Engineering Commons Tepper, G., Kessick, R., & Pestov, D. An electrospray-based, ozone-free air purification technology. Journal of Applied Physics, 102, 113305 (2007). Copyright © 2007 American Institute of Physics. Downloaded from http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/egmn_pubs/23 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Dept. of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Publications by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 102, 113305 ͑2007͒ An electrospray-based, ozone-free air purification technology ͒ Gary Teppera Sentor Technologies, Inc., Glen Allen, Virginia 23059, USA and Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284, USA Royal Kessick Sentor Technologies, Inc., Glen Allen, Virginia 23059, USA Dmitry Pestov Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284, USA ͑Received 3 July 2007; accepted 5 October 2007; published online 5 December 2007͒ A zero-pressure-drop, ozone-free air purification technology is reported. Contaminated air was directed into a chamber containing an array of electrospray wick sources. The electrospray sources produce an aerosol of tiny, electrically charged aqueous droplets. Charge was transferred from the droplets onto polar and polarizable species in the contaminated air stream and the charged contaminants were extracted using an electric field and deposited onto a metal surface. Purified air emerged from the other end of the chamber. The very small aqueous electrospray droplets completely evaporate so that the process is essentially dry and no liquid solvent is collected or recirculated. The air purification efficiency was measured as a function of particle size, air flow rate, and specific system design parameters. The results indicate that the electrospray-based air purification system provides high air purification efficiency over a wide range of particle size and, due to the very low power and liquid consumption rate, can be scaled up for the purification of arbitrarily large quantities of air. © 2007 American Institute of Physics. ͓DOI: 10.1063/1.2818364͔ I. INTRODUCTION ment, they do produce ozone ͑an environmental health haz- ard͒ as a by-product of the ionization process. Ozone According to the American Lung Association’s “State of production severely limits the usefulness and scalability of the Air 2006” report published in April 2006, over half of the air purification systems based on electrostatic precipitation. U.S. population lives in counties with unhealthful levels of Air purification systems based on a recirculating shower air pollution and over 50ϫ106 Americans suffer from of water droplets have been developed and these so-called 1 chronic exposure to particulate pollution. This problem is “wet scrubbers” are used primarily in industrial settings be- not unique to the U.S. and affects most industrialized regions cause this approach is very energy intensive due to the need of the world. The adverse health effects and associated medi- to collect and recirculate large volumes of liquid.13 However, cal costs of air pollution are well documented and include the volumetric flow rate of an aerosol process can be reduced increased risk of cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular dis- dramatically by reducing the average diameter of the drop- 2–5 ease and decreased life expectancy. The Environmental lets into the nanoscale. Electrospray is one process capable Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act was amended in 1990 in of producing aerosolized droplets in this size range.14–16 an attempt to curb three major threats to the health of mil- Here we introduce an air purification technology based lions of Americans: acid rain, urban air pollution, and toxic on tiny electrically charged aqueous droplets produced from 6 air emissions. In addition to regulatory efforts to control and an array of electrospray sources. Electrospray ionization is reduce emissions at the source, numerous consumer products normally used in conjunction with mass spectrometry for targeting the rapidly growing air purification market have applications in analytical chemistry.14 In electrospray ioniza- been introduced in recent years. tion mass spectrometry a solute is dissolved in a liquid sol- Consumer air purification products for particulate re- vent and the solution is “electrosprayed” from the tip of a moval are generally based on mechanical filtration or elec- charged capillary needle resulting in a plume of charged sol- 7–12 trostatic precipitation. Mechanical ͑e.g., High Efficiency vent droplets containing the dissolved solute. The initial di- Particulate Air ͑HEPA͒͒filters simply capture those particles ameter of an electrosprayed droplet depends on factors such unable to pass through the filter. However, the filters must be as the solution conductivity and flow rate and is typically on changed regularly and offer significant resistance to air flow the order of microns.15,16 However, as the volatile solvent resulting in relatively high pressure drops and noise levels. evaporates from the charged droplet, the surface charge den- Electrostatic precipitators, on the other hand, employ a co- sity increases until the droplet becomes unstable, breaking rona discharge to ionize air molecules. The ionized air mol- into a cascade of smaller “daughter” droplets. This process, ecules attach to air contaminants, which are removed through known as a Coulombic explosion, repeats and the daughter the application of an electric field. However, while electro- droplets get smaller in each generation. static precipitators are quiet and do not require filter replace- Figure 1 is a photograph of a plume of droplets produced from a conventional electrospray capillary needle source. A ͒ a Electronic mail: [email protected]. high voltage is applied to the tip of a capillary needle con- 0021-8979/2007/102͑11͒/113305/6/$23.00102, 113305-1 © 2007 American Institute of Physics [This article is copyrighted as indicated in the article. Reuse of AIP content is subject to the terms at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. Downloaded to ] IP: 128.172.48.59 On: Wed, 04 Nov 2015 19:11:54 113305-2 Tepper, Kessick, and Pestov J. Appl. Phys. 102, 113305 ͑2007͒ FIG. 2. ͑Color online͒ Schematic diagram illustrating the electrospray air purification process. air stream. The purified air stream consisting of the un- charged nitrogen and oxygen molecules continues on unaf- FIG. 1. ͑Color online͒ Photograph of an electrospray source illustrating the fected by the charged droplets. Taylor cone, jet, and plume. Two prototype air purification systems were constructed and tested. Wick-based electrospray sources were used in taining an aqueous liquid. The electric field distorts the sur- both systems instead of conventional capillary needles in or- face of the liquid and a characteristic Taylor cone is formed der to eliminate the need for mechanical components such as at the tip of the needle through a competition between sur- syringe pumps, valves, or flow regulators. Once wet, the tip face tension and the applied electric force.17 When the force of the wick concentrates the electric field much like the tip of from the electric field overcomes the surface tension, a a hypodermic needle, while the body of the wick replenishes charged liquid jet emerges from the tip of the Taylor cone the electrospray solvent through capillary action as described and this is known as the cone-jet mode of electrospray. The by the Washburn equation.19 A wick is also self-balancing in jet eventually becomes unstable and breaks up into a plume that it cannot provide solvent any faster than the electric field or aerosol of tiny charged droplets. In this initial publication can remove it and the field cannot remove the solvent any on the use of electrospray aerosols for air purification, no faster than the wick can supply it. Finally, an array of wick attempt will be made to present a detailed analysis of the sources can be used to conveniently distribute the electro- electrospray hydrodynamics which has been described in de- spray aerosols over a large area for efficient and uniform tail in numerous publications including a very recent contaminant ionization. Several different wick materials review.17 were tested including nylon, acrylic and a polyethylene/ The charged nanodroplets produced in an electrospray polyester blend from Porex. A more detailed analysis of process, if dispersed into the air, will transfer charge onto these wick-based electrospray sources will be the subject of a polar or polarizable species present in the air including both separate publication. particles and polar molecules.18 This article will focus on Figure 3͑a͒ is a schematic diagram illustrating the two particle collection and the results of the vapor collection main components of prototype A, which was