High concentrations of fine particles are increasingly being detected due to inflows from abroad and local emission sources in Korea. As most people spend about 90% of their time indoors, the use of indoor air cleaners has grown significantly as they are now thought to be essential items. In this study, the noise, power consumption, and clean air delivery rate (CADR) of commercial air cleaners were analyzed according to the structural shape of the air cleaners. Analyses were performed based on the experimental results of 249 cases for air cleaners certified by Korea Air Cleaning Association. The air cleaners with front inlet and upper outlet air flow direction, which currently account for the highest market share, were found to have the highest noise per CADR (dB(A)/(m3/min)). On the other hand, the air cleaners with the inlet and outlet air flow in the same horizontal direction were found to have lowest noise per CADR than other structures.

The use of air cleaners has become popular to quickly remove contaminants present in indoor air such as fine dust and fungi. However, fungal information is rarely available in the filters equipped in the air cleaners. This study was conducted in winter to examine fungal concentration and species in the air cleaner filters of ten residential houses located in Incheon, Seoul, Hwaseong, and Gimpo cities. Fungi were detected in nine out of eleven filters from the ten houses. The level of fungi in the filters ranged from 0 CFU/cm2 to 2,370 CFU/cm2. There were differences in the fungal concentration among the eleven filters. Filters from three houses revealed levels over 1,000 CFU/cm2. The operation time of air cleaners did not seem directly related to the level of fungal concentration. A total of 326 isolates were obtained and classified as six genera belonging to Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Penicillium, and Trichoderma. Among these six genera, 20 species including one Alternaria, one Aspergillus, three Cladosporium spp., two Fusarium spp., eleven Penicillium spp., and two Trichoderma were identified. There were species that cause allergic reaction, pneumoniae, mycosis, and plant disease. Three species were known species of mycotoxin producers. Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium cladosporioides, and Penicillium brevicompactum were the most frequently detected fungi both in the air and in the air cleaner filters. This is the first report of fungal communities present in the air cleaner filters of residential houses in Korea.

We estimated decreasing rate of indoor air pollutants with are airborne bacteria, airborne fungi, formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds, PM10, and PM2.5 in 10 children’s hospitals and 6 childbirth houses located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do from November to December in 2012. Sectional period was respectively divided for operating and non-operating the air cleaners. There was a trend that concentration of surveyed pollutants in children’s hospitals and childbirth houses during operating period decreased among indoor air. We used Monte-Calro simulation to remove uncertainty and identify efficiency of eliminated pollutants such as surveyed pollutants by the air cleaners. Average efficiency of removal were 61.39 ± 21.42% for airborne bacteria, 71.77 ± 19.65% for airborne fungi, 73.37 ± 24.62% for formaldehyde, 71.20 ± 25.96% for total volatile organic compounds, 65.16 ± 23.80% for PM10, and 71.06 ± 23.97% for PM2.5.

As indoor air cleaners have large sizes and high air flow rates, the test methods for particle cleaning capacity need to be reconsidered because the prescribed test chamber size becomes relatively smaller. In this study, air flow rate of air cleaners compared to test chamber size (Q/V) has been investigated by comparing the short-circuit factor which indicates the air mixed condition in the test chamber. The test method of Korea Air Cleaning Association (KACA) has been analysed and compared to that of Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) for clean air delivery rate (CADR) of two household air conditioners equipped with air cleaners having a maximum air flow rate of 15 m³/min in terms of initial particle concentrations, neutralized/non-charged particles, delay time before acquiring initial particle concentration, sampling positions. Constant short-circuit factor of about 0.9 was obtained in the range of Q/V less than 0.73 min^-1. CADR based on KACA test method was somewhat dependent on initial particle concentrations, delay time before acquiring initial concentration, sampling positions. However, CADR based on AHAM test method was less dependent. Two or three minutes of delay time before acquiring initial concentration was necessary to reduce the variation of CADR according to initial particle concentration and sampling position.

Ozone has become a significant pollutant not only outdoors but also indoors. The ozone emission test was conducted for the sum of forty five air cleaners selected in the online shops and department stores. Negative ion emission test was also conducted for the selected fifteen ones which had the function to generate negative ions. Filter-type and complex type air cleaners emitted ozone less than 0.05 ppm, the standard of indoor ozone emission of air cleaner. Wet type ones emitted no ozone. In the case of ionizer type, 66.7% in the nine ones emitted ozone about 1.4~10 times larger than 0.05ppm. Most of air cleaners used a pin corona discharge emitted large amount of ozone. Those which used carbon fiber emitted little ozone in spite of generating a lot of negative ions.

The removal efficiency of VOC was tested for five air cleaners selected in terms of type and cleaning performances. Toluene, representative VOCs, was selected and used as the test gas. In order to indicate toluene removal capacity, toluene removal efficiency in a chamber and a duct was investigated with different measurement devices such as gas detecting tubes and GC/MSD. Changes in toluene concentration in the chamber were measured with GC/MSD. The test results showed that the performances of the test models in the test chamber were superior to those in the duct, however, they did not differentiate the performances of test models. According to our test study, toluene removal capacity calculated from the changes in toluene concentration with time was a good indicator for VOCs removal performance.

The deodorization performances of ammonia, acetic acid and acetaldehyde were tested for each of all forty five air cleaners sold in the online shops and department stores. The removal performances of toluene and formaldehyde were also investigated and the results were compared to the deodorization performances for the air cleaners. Filter-type and complex type air cleaners which used activated carbon filters showed superior in odor removal performances to those of ionizer type and wet type air cleaners. Toluene and formaldehyde were readily removed for the most of filter-type and complex type air cleaners. Ionizer air cleaners had little removal ability for the toluene and formaldehyde.

In this study, we investigated PM10, NO2, and 1-hydroxypyrene(1-OHP) in urine at indoor environments which are 35 houses and 20 hospitals for using air cleaner and non-using air cleaner in Seoul metropolitan area and Kyoung-gi province from April, 2003 to February, 2004. Moreover, we examined effect of improvement for indoor air quality and health effect by concentration of 1-OHP also we investigated removal efficiency by air cleaner for PM10, NO2, and 1-OHP that were 28.5%, 27.4%, and 42.1% respectively. Concentration of PM10, NO2, and 1-OHP were 19.02±18.14㎍/m3, 8.66±3.06ppb, and 0.19±0.18㎍/g creatinine when air cleaner was no worked. The concentration for PM10, NO2, and 1-OHP were 13.60±10.79㎍/m3, 6.29±2.71ppb, and 0.11±0.10㎍/g creatinine, respectively. It was significant statistically. Therefore, it is considered using the air cleaner to remove the partial pollutants in indoor environment and is positive effect for health.