The drawback of optimizing air cleaner filters for the adsorption of formaldehyde

Air cleaners with activated carbon (AC) filters for the adsorption of gaseous pollutants are often used to improve the indoor air quality. As formaldehyde is a common and health-relevant indoor air pollutant, testing standards for air cleaners such as GB/T 18801:2015 require testing the cleaning efficacy with this substance. This often persuades manufacturers to optimize the employed filters specifically for formaldehyde. However, in regions where indoor formaldehyde levels are far below guideline values, other gaseous pollutants might be more relevant. Thus, the question arises whether the optimization for formaldehyde can have a negative impact on the adsorption of other gases. To address this question, the clean air delivery rate (CADR) of an air cleaner was determined for different test gases with either a standard AC filter or an AC filter modified for improved formaldehyde adsorption. Although the modified AC filter performed substantially better for formaldehyde, a strong reduction of the CADR was observed for toluene and nitrogen dioxide. This is a drawback for situations where these gases are more problematic than formaldehyde. The findings suggest using either specialized filters for different applications or blends of different adsorbants to find the best compromise for the most relevant pollutants.