A Photocatalytic Air Cleaning System Breaking Down Volatile Organic Compounds to Improve Health and Productivity of Occupants

Search for this publication on Google Scholar
Bapat, K. P. (2021). A Photocatalytic Air Cleaning System Breaking Down Volatile Organic Compounds to Improve Health and Productivity of Occupants. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
Download PDF

Analytics

20 views ◎
5 downloads ⇓


Abstract

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are one of the pollutants that impact indoor air quality, leading to many adverse health effects such as Asthma, and other breathing issues. Most of the VOCs are harmful and carcinogenic, usually emitted by indoor sources like disinfectants, insecticides, and building materials including wall paint, varnishes, and many more. As human beings spend 90% of their time indoors, it is necessary to maintain good indoor air quality by reducing harmful VOCs. Photocatalysis is one way to remove the VOCs in the air. A photocatalytic compound TiO₂ is activated in presence of UV light and breaks down VOCs in the air. The more the surface area is covered with TiO₂ and in contact with sunlight, the more effective it removes VOCs. The building facade is one of the building elements that are in direct contact with sunlight and interior space. Therefore, it can serve as a prime location to implement TiO₂ photocatalytic facade and remove VOCs. The facade configuration studied in this paper was chosen as a tetrahedron geometry to increase more surface area for coating TiO₂ under a unit volume. The radiation analysis simulations were run for all the orientations of east, south, west, and north. These radiation analysis simulations were run in 2 categories, one was annual radiation and the second was seasonal radiation on each façade. The simulation indicated that the south façade has the most potential as the radiation on the south façade is highest. While east and west have higher radiation in the summer season. In both annual and seasonal radiation, the north façade receives the least amount of radiation, but it still has the potential to activate titanium dioxide to reduce VOCs in the air. Further physical experiments were carried out to study the effect of TiO₂ coated facades in reducing VOCs, the source of which was generated by hand sanitizer and silicone sealant. Two TiO₂ coated facades were tested: one with TiO₂ powder and the other with TiO₂ spray. A controlled experiment was carried out as well, with the façade module with any coating, to ensure the reduction in TVOC levels is caused to activation of TiO2 in presence of UV light. In the controlled experiment, it was observed that there was a 13% reduction in levels of TVOCs which was significantly less than spray and powder TiO2 which was 30-60% and 70-75% reduction accordingly.

Details
Author

Bapat, Ketki Prashant

Title

A Photocatalytic Air Cleaning System Breaking Down Volatile Organic Compounds to Improve Health and Productivity of Occupants

Physical Description

1 online resource (48 pages) : PDF

Date

2021

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are one of the pollutants that impact indoor air quality, leading to many adverse health effects such as Asthma, and other breathing issues. Most of the VOCs are harmful and carcinogenic, usually emitted by indoor sources like disinfectants, insecticides, and building materials including wall paint, varnishes, and many more. As human beings spend 90% of their time indoors, it is necessary to maintain good indoor air quality by reducing harmful VOCs. Photocatalysis is one way to remove the VOCs in the air. A photocatalytic compound TiO₂ is activated in presence of UV light and breaks down VOCs in the air. The more the surface area is covered with TiO₂ and in contact with sunlight, the more effective it removes VOCs. The building facade is one of the building elements that are in direct contact with sunlight and interior space. Therefore, it can serve as a prime location to implement TiO₂ photocatalytic facade and remove VOCs. The facade configuration studied in this paper was chosen as a tetrahedron geometry to increase more surface area for coating TiO₂ under a unit volume. The radiation analysis simulations were run for all the orientations of east, south, west, and north. These radiation analysis simulations were run in 2 categories, one was annual radiation and the second was seasonal radiation on each façade. The simulation indicated that the south façade has the most potential as the radiation on the south façade is highest. While east and west have higher radiation in the summer season. In both annual and seasonal radiation, the north façade receives the least amount of radiation, but it still has the potential to activate titanium dioxide to reduce VOCs in the air. Further physical experiments were carried out to study the effect of TiO₂ coated facades in reducing VOCs, the source of which was generated by hand sanitizer and silicone sealant. Two TiO₂ coated facades were tested: one with TiO₂ powder and the other with TiO₂ spray. A controlled experiment was carried out as well, with the façade module with any coating, to ensure the reduction in TVOC levels is caused to activation of TiO2 in presence of UV light. In the controlled experiment, it was observed that there was a 13% reduction in levels of TVOCs which was significantly less than spray and powder TiO2 which was 30-60% and 70-75% reduction accordingly.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Architecture

Degree

M.Arch.

Keywords

Air Depolluting Facade
Indoor Air Quality
Photocatalysis
Titanium Dioxide
Uv Light
Volatile Organic Compounds

Subject Area

Architecture

Advisor(s)

Kim, Kyoung Hee

Committee Members

Kim, Kyoung Hee
Harver, Andrew
Magi, Brian

Degree Note

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2021.

Rights Statement

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). For additional information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/.

Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Bapat_uncc_0694N_13138

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:2729