The effectiveness of portable air cleaners against tobacco smoke in multizone residential environments

Other conference contribution, 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the effectiveness of portable air cleaners (ACs) against tobacco smoke is influenced by the clean air delivery rate (CADR), the location of the AC in relation to the pollution source and the apartment structure. The study was based on field experiments and simulations with the CONTAM software. The AC effectiveness was about 80% for one AC, and 93% for two ACs in the studied apartment (volume=110m3). Ultrafine particles (UFP) exposure in a room without tobacco smoking (clean room) could be much less than in the source room if these rooms were not directly connected with each other (but indirectly connected via doors open to other rooms). Operating the AC in one of the rooms without cigarette smoking could develop a partly isolated clean environment. However, this led to a rather low cleaning effectiveness for the concentration of ultrafine particles in the apartment as a whole. If operating the AC in the room where cigarettes are being smoked, the UFP exposure in the whole apartment can be further reduced.