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Clean Air Resources

Ozone and Air Purification: Fact and Fiction

Find out what you need to know about ozone and air purifiers. Then compare Blueair 501 ozone test results with government air quality standards and learn why Blueair's systems are safe.

What is ozone?

A chemist would answer that ozone is a single molecule composed of three atoms of oxygen, the third of which is unstable (or volatile) and therefore tends to separate and bond with other molecules.

An environmental scientist might tell you that ozone is the main component of urban air pollution, or that ozone high in the atmosphere protects our planet from harmful UV rays from the sun.

Your health care provider would certainly state that high indoor ozone levels can irritate sensitive lungs, and even affect healthy people at high concentrations.

Fact: The U.S. government's most stringent ozone safety threshold is .05 ppm (parts per million)

Because of ozone's role in air pollution-related health problems, its health effects have been studied extensively. Government agencies have established various safety thresholds for ozone exposure.

The National Ambient Air Quality Standard, established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is .08 ppm for outdoor ozone.

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health recommendations and Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations both establish ozone levels of 0.10 ppm as the safety threshold for workers on the job.

The most stringent standard, those of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for indoor medical devices, specifies that ozone output be no more than 0.05 ppm.

Fact: The Blueair 501 tests at .003 ppm of ozone

Blueair's patented HEPASilent™ filter technology uses active ionization (particle charging) to capture and remove particles from indoor air. Ionization does produce trace amounts of ozone. However, Blueair systems are not associated with dangerous levels of indoor ozone. In fact, the opposite is true.

The Blueair 501 system was subjected to the Ozone Test outlined in section 37 of the Electrostatic Air Cleaner Standard, UL 867. The unit was positioned in the center of a closed 100 square foot room. The air in the room was tested continuously throughout 24 hours of normal operation.

Test probes measured only .003 ppm of ozone--far below the most stringent U.S. safety standards. The official test results appear in graph form below. The graph shows a sharp decrease in ozone concentration while the Blueair 501 unit is operating, with ozone levels climbing again after the system is shut down.

Fiction: Air purifier ionization chambers are the same as ozone generators

An oft-quoted EPA warning states: "Ozone generators that are sold as air cleaners intentionally produce the gas ozone ... Some manufacturers or vendors suggest that ozone will render almost every chemical contaminant harmless ... This is misleading." Blueair agrees with the EPA. They want to make it clear that none of their products are ozone generators.

The ionization chamber of a Blueair system is designed to charge particles in order to capture and remove them from indoor air. In contrast, ozone generators are designed specifically to create ozone. In tests of the two kinds of devices, the differences in ozone levels are dramatic.

In one EPA study, tests measured ozone concentrations of .20 to .30 ppm in rooms where some ozone generators were used. Such levels clearly exceed federal government safety standards and are a legitimate cause for concern. They are also many times higher than the Blueair's modest .003 ppm ozone test score. Ozone levels in a room where the Blueair system is used are well within the most stringent U.S. safety standards.

Fiction: Ionization always results in higher levels of indoor ozone

Tests demonstrate that HEPASilent™ filter technology actually reduces ozone in a sealed room, despite the trace amounts of ozone produced as a by-product of ionization. Blueair's design safeguards against excessive ozone production, and then removes ozone particles from the air, wherever they come from.

Blueair achieves these results in three ways:

The system produces ionization with as little current as possible. Ozone production is proportional to electrical current--the lower the current, the less ozone is produced. Using less current also reduces operating costs of the system.

The particle charging chamber inside a Blueair system is completely enclosed in steel. As ozone molecules collide with steel inside the chamber, many are stripped of their third oxygen atoms and become plain old oxygen.

Should any ozone molecules exit the particle charging chamber without bonding with the steel inside, they are then adsorbed by the carbon portion of the filter media.

Be an informed consumer

We know that people considering a Blueair air purification system are likely to want facts rather than fiction. The fact is that the EPA, the American Lung Association and other consumer groups and government agencies express legitimate concern about the health effects of concentrations of indoor ozone greater than .05 ppm.

Blueair is certain that it's low .003 ppm test results demonstrate that their HEPASilent™ filter technology is safe for human health. However, we encourage anyone with serious health concerns to discuss Blueair's ozone test results with a qualified health care provider.

Types of Air Cleaners

Brief, informative descriptions of three standard air cleaning technologies: mechanical filtration, electronic air cleaning and ionization.

What Types of Air Cleaners are Available?
excerpted from:
EPA: Residential Air Cleaning Devices: A Summary of Available Information
Office of Air and Radiation (OAR)
EPA 400/1-90-002, February 1990

Air cleaners are usually classified by the method employed to remove particles of various sizes from the air. There are three general types of air cleaners on the market: mechanical filters, electronic air cleaners, and ion generators. Mechanical filters may be installed in ducts in homes with central heating and/or air-conditioning or may be used in portable devices which contain a fan to force air through the filter. Mechanical filters used for air cleaning are of two major types. Flat filters may efficiently collect large particles, but remove only a small percentage of respirable size particles.

Pleated or extended surface filters generally attain greater efficiency for capture of respirable size particles than flat filters. Their greater surface area allows the use of smaller fibers and an increase in packing density of the filter without a large drop in air flow rate.

Electronic air cleaners use an electrical field to trap charged particles. In electrostatic precipitators, particles are collected on a series of flat plates. In charged-media filter devices, which are less common, the particles are collected on the fibers in a filter. Ion generators also use static charges to remove particles from indoor air. These devices come in portable units only. They act by charging the particles in a room, so they are attracted to walls, floors, table tops, draperies, occupants, etc. In some cases, these devices contain a collector to attract the charged particles back to the unit. (Note: The latter two types of devices may produce ozone, either as a byproduct of use or intentionally. Concerns about ozone production are discussed in more depth later.) Some newer systems on the market are referred to as "hybrid" devices. They contain two or more of the particle removal devices discussed above.

In addition to particle removal devices, air cleaners may also contain adsorbents and/or reactive materials to facilitate removal of gaseous materials from indoor air. Air cleaners which do not contain these types of materials will not remove gaseous pollutants.

Choosing an Air Cleaner: System Performance

Can you name all four key performance concerns? Good advice from the Environmental Protection Agency to help you evaluate an air cleaning system before you buy.

1. The percentage of the particles removed as they go through the device (that is, the efficiency).

2. The amount of air handled by the device. For example, an air cleaner may have a high efficiency filter, but it may process only 10 cubic feet of air each minute. Suppose that the air cleaner is put in a room of typical size, containing 1000 cubic feet of air. In this room, it will take a long time for all the air to be processed. In some cases, pollutants may be generated more quickly than they are removed.

3. The effective volume of the air to be cleaned. A single portable unit used in a room within a large building in which the air flows between several apartments or offices would be of little or no value.

4. The decrease in performance which may occur between maintenance periods and if periodic maintenance is not performed on schedule.

Choosing an Air Cleaner: Other Concerns

How much sound does it produce? How much power does it use? A list of secondary considerations, from environmental impact to dollars and cents.

Ozone Generators and Ionization

Has the government established safe levels for indoor ozone? A joint position statement from the EPA, American Lung Association, American Medical Association and Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Ozone Generators and Ionization
excerpted from:
EPA: Indoor Air Pollution: An Introduction for Health Professionals Co-sponsored by: The American Lung Association (ALA), The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and The American Medical Association (AMA)
U.S. Government Printing Office Publication No. 1994-523-217/81322 1994

What are ionizers and other ozone generating air cleaners?
Ion generators act by charging the particles in a room so that they are attracted to walls, floors, tabletops, draperies, occupants, etc. Abrasion can result in these particles being resuspended into the air. In some cases these devices contain a collector to attract the charged particles back to the unit. While ion generators may remove small particles (e.g., those in tobacco smoke) from the indoor air, they do not remove gases or odors, and may be relatively ineffective in removing large particles such as pollen and house dust allergens.

Ozone, a lung irritant, is produced indirectly by ion generators and some other electronic air cleaners and directly by ozone generators. Under certain use conditions ion generators and other ozone generating air cleaners can produce levels of this lung irritant significantly above levels thought harmful to human health. A small percentage of air cleaners that claim a health benefit may be regulated by FDA as a medical device. The Food and Drug Administration has set a limit of 0.05 parts per million of ozone for medical devices.

Can other air cleaners help?
Ion generators and ozone generators are types of air cleaners; others include mechanical filter air cleaners, electronic air cleaners (e.g., electrostatic precipitators), and hybrid air cleaners utilizing two or more techniques. Generally speaking, existing air cleaners are not appropriate single solutions to indoor air quality problems, but can be useful as an adjunct to effective source control and adequate ventilation. Air cleaning alone cannot adequately remove all pollutants typically found in indoor air.

The value of any air cleaner depends upon a number of factors, including its basic efficiency, proper selection for the type of pollutant to be removed, proper installation in relation to the space, and faithful maintenance. Drawbacks, varying with type, may include inadequate pollutant removal, re-dispersement of pollutants, deceptive masking rather than removal, generation of ozone, and unacceptable noise levels.

At the time of this publication, the EPA and CPSC had not taken a position either for or against the use of these devices in the home. For more information on ozone generators, read the recently released fact sheet: Ozone Generators That Are Sold As Air Cleaners

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