Lab-scale test of a ventilation system including a dielectric barrier discharger and UV-photocatalyst filters for simultaneous removal of gaseous and particulate contaminants

A ventilation system including a dielectric barrier discharger (DBD) and UV-photocatalyst (UVP) filters was designed and tested for simultaneous removal of gaseous and particulate contaminants in a test chamber. The DBD was used in the first stage of electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for particle charging and gas decomposition. An applied DC electric field was used in the second stage of ESP to collect the charged particles. UVP filters were then used to decompose gaseous species, such as formaldehyde (HCHO) and benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) including O₃, which was inherently produced by the DBD. %Reductions in mass concentration of PM2.5 and number concentration of submicron particles were approximately 79.5% and 76.3%, respectively, after the ventilation with air cleaning system was operated for 5 h. Both HCHO and BTX were completely removed when the initial concentration of each gas was 1 ppm.