In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, air cleaning technologies were promoted as useful tools for disinfecting public spaces and combating airborne pathogen transmission. However, no standard method exists to assess the potentially harmful byproduct formation from air cleaners. Through a consensus standard development process, a draft standard test method to assess portable air cleaner performance was developed, and a suite of air cleaners employing seven different technologies was tested. The test method quantifies not only the removal efficiency of a challenge chemical suite and ultrafine particulate matter but also byproduct formation. Clean air delivery rates (CADRs) are used to quantify the chemical and particle removal efficiencies, and an emission rate framework is used to quantify the formation of formaldehyde, ozone, and other volatile organic compounds. We find that the tested photocatalytic oxidation and germicidal ultraviolet light (GUV) technologies produced the highest levels of aldehyde byproducts having emission rates of 202 and 243 μg h^–1, respectively. Additionally, GUV using two different wavelengths, 222 and 254 nm, both produced ultrafine particulate matter.

中文翻译：

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使用建议的标准测试方法对便携式空气净化器形成的副产品进行量化

为了应对 COVID-19 大流行，空气净化技术被推广为对公共空间进行消毒和对抗空气传播病原体传播的有用工具。然而，没有标准方法来评估空气净化器形成的潜在有害副产品。通过一致的标准制定流程，制定了评估便携式空气净化器性能的标准测试方法草案，并对采用七种不同技术的一套空气净化器进行了测试。该测试方法不仅量化了挑战化学品套件和超细颗粒物的去除效率，还量化了副产物的形成。清洁空气输送率 (CADR) 用于量化化学物质和颗粒去除效率，排放率框架用于量化甲醛、臭氧和其他挥发性有机化合物的形成。我们发现，测试的光催化氧化和杀菌紫外线 (GUV) 技术产生的醛副产物含量最高，排放率分别为 202 和 243 μg h ^–1。此外，使用两种不同波长（222 和 254 nm）的 GUV 都会产生超细颗粒物。