What do you use an air
scrubber for?
Air scrubbers really are a reliable solution to remove airborne gaseous
contaminants from any indoor area. Many manufacturing plants, businesses,
workshops and even homes use air scrubbers. There's two processes which an
air scrubber can utilize to decontaminate the air of gaseous contaminants.
The first process regularly used with an air scrubber is known as
adsorption. Adsorption is a process by which one substance is attracted to
and stuck on the surface of another. The words adsorbent and adsorbate
relate to the act of capturing molecules. The adsorption process can be
carried out easily each time a material uses attractive force to overcome
the kinetic energy of a gas molecule.
A more clear demonstration of how adsorption works is the way cigarette
smoke is absorbed quickly into a car's interior lining. It is incredible how
gas molecules in the cigarette can leave the air and go into the car's
interior lining. As soon as you enter a vehicle of a smoker you always can
tell immediately that they smoke because of the gas molecules held fast in
the vehicle's interior lining. Air scrubbers adsorption process works much
in the same manner as the cigarette smoke in the car does. Instead of
interior lining adsorption uses granular activated carbons (GAC's) or
sorbents such as activated aluminas to attract gas molecules. An air
scrubber also uses the a resistance to airflow, the adsorbent bed depth,
temperature, gas velocity, and also the characteristics of the contaminants
which have to be cleaned from the air to better eliminate the air of gaseous
contaminants. The adsorption process is one of methods an air scrubber
utilizes to decontaminate the air of pollutants.
Another process where an air scrubber can use to eliminate airborne
gaseous contaminants from the air is called chemisorption. Chemisorption
consists of adsortpion and irreversible chemical reactions. Most adsorbent
materials tend not to eliminate all gases equally. It may be ineffective at
time if you are seeking complete removal of pollutants. Chemisorption
improves on the adsorbent process by making use of various chemicals into
the formula. Throughout the chemisorption process certain chemicals are
combined with the less-adsorbable gases which reacts by forming a new more
stable chemical compound. These new compounds are bound to the application
as organic or inorganic salts. This new compound is sometimes released back
into the air as CO or water vapor. Chemisorption is the consequence of
various chemical reactions on the surface of the adsorbent.
This is a two stage process. The adsorbates are physically adsorbed onto
the adsorbent. Then they chemically react to the adsorbent and a chemical
impregnant is added into the mix. The most common chemical impregnant used
during this method of an air srubber is potassium permanganate. The
chemisorption process of an air scrubber can effectively help clean the air
of gaseous contaminants such as toxic gases, corrosive gases, irritant
gases, odorous gases, and (ETS) environmental tobacco smoke. The air
scrubber process you select to use it totally up to you and your air
cleaning requirements.