Hello - I was visited today by a salesman for the Aerus Guardian Air air
purifier, a stand-alone unit that uses a combination of HEPA filter with
activated charcoal, titanium dioxide photocatalysis, and an ion
generator to filter out particulates and destroy bacteria, mold spores,
etc. The FDA has classified it as a Class II medical device. He would
like us to buy these utits for our galleries and storage areas. I was
visiting their website, and found some of their claims a little
confusing.  Among these was that the unit's air exchange rate is "almost
2000 square feet per hour". My understanding from previous experience
with air filtration units was that air exchange is measured in cubic
feet per minute. Am I wrong here, or merely confused? I am also
concerned about ozone. The website is a little cagey, saying that it
does not emit harmful ozone; is there any other kind? I understand from
a little research that ion generators can emit ozone, but I don't know
whether some of them do and some don't. And then the titanium dioxide
photocatalysis, which involves bathing a titanium dioxide coating on the
filter with UV light which reacts with water vapor to form "a powerful
oxidizer" that destroys airborne contaminants. Now I took high school
chemistry more years ago than I will admit, so I'm probably giving some
of you science types material to forward to your fun-loving friends, but
I'd like to know whether these powerful oxidizers are staying at home in
the unit where they belong or whether they're going out to lunch at the
object restaurant.
 
Seriously, if anyone can speak to the effectiveness, the chemistry, or
the benefits or dangers of these processes, I would be humbly
appreciative. Also, if anyone can speak to his claim that it would help
lower the humidity in these same galleries, well...
Many thanks,
 
Anne T. Lane

Collections Manager,

The Charlotte Museum of History 
3500 Shamrock Drive 
Charlotte NC 28215 
704-568-1774, ext 110 
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