Air purifier types

The second type of air purifiers employs a chemical modification process instead of mechanical or electronic filters to purify the air. They release a small amount of ozone, which is relatively harmless to humans but is lethal to airborne bacteria and viruses.

This basically means that such an ozone generator cannot control the output of ozone at safe limits. Therefore some agencies claim to have introduced a new method in ozone concentration control.

Ozone is a main component of the earth’s upper atmosphere, where it is produced during a complex photochemical reaction. It is sometimes referred to as activated oxygen and is produced in the outdoor air during electrical thunderstorms or close to waterfalls. Many scientists have tried to identify the chemical structure of ozone but none of them succeeded to do so up until the middle of the 19th century when Christian Schonbein, a German researcher, named the compound ozone after a Greek word “ozein”. The chemical structure of the compound was set as a triatomic oxygen. This basically means that ozone molecule contains of three oxygen atoms. Therefore ozone is another molecular form of ozygen, having totally different physical and chemical properties.

Ultraviolet (UV) light has long been known for its purifying power. Used at certain dosage it helps to destroy all the airborne pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, mold etc. UV purifiers were first used in cleaning other substances, such as water, from various pathogens. A first UV air purifier was constructed a few decades ago and was first used in medical and dental facilities. These devices were then modified and commercialized and are now available for residential and commercial purposes. Nowadays there are many different companies that produce UV air purifiers alone or in combination with other air cleaning devices, most frequently with HEPA air filters.