The design of the botanical indoor air biofilter system for the atmospheric particle removal

Abstract

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) objective generally focus on providing energizing and comfortable environments for occupants and minimizing the risk of building-related health problems. Living green walls are natural air-filters that creates a cleaner and revitalizing work environment that will lead to better IEQ. The research presented here describes the design (the new concept) of the botanical indoor air biofilter (BIAB) and modelling conducted to determine the effectiveness of the system in reducing the indoor airborne particulate matter levels. The BIAB was also evaluated for its single-pass filtration for particles ranging in diameter from 2.5 to 10 Μ along with total suspended particles. The system is comprised of three functional components; a region of vertically grown plants as botanical section, an evaporative cooling pad as cooling section (additional section from a commercial BIAB), and a mechanical ventilation system that supply cool filtered air to surrounding. The complete system recorded highest removal efficiencies of 85% for TSP, 75.2% for PM2.5, and 71.9% for PM10. It indicated that with the additional component in the BIAB system (cooling component), it provides enhancement of the particulate removal due to the ability in absorbing the dust particles and filtration dynamics as the polluted air pass through the wetted cooling pad and the light shower of water.