Air purifier: how to choose an air purifier for your workplace

On average, we spend 80% of our time indoors or in enclosed areas. Dust, pollen and volatile organic compounds are the main sources of indoor air pollution. With working days of at least 7 hours, the air quality in workplaces deteriorates very quickly if not properly ventilated. An air purifier captures these residues, therefore, protecting employees against potential health problems, absences or serious long-term problems. How to choose an air purifier that is efficient and meets the needs of your business?

What is an air purifier?

The air purifier is a mobile device with built-in sensors. They purify the air by removing pollutants that cannot be captured by a vacuum cleaner. It destroys airborne fine particles, which can cause allergies, respiratory diseases and chronic illnesses.

Often using filters to trap particles in order to clean up the atmosphere in the room, air purifiers can also use techniques other than filtration to capture these fragments. There are ion, plasma, photocatalytic and combustion purifiers. Each of them uses a particular process responding to different uses.

Why buy an air purifier for your workplace?

Buying an air purifier makes it possible, first of all, to preserve the health of your employees. When the air in a room is not replaced several times a day, it accumulates several types of pollutants that can be toxic to those in the room.

Natural or biological pollutants

In addition to hair, pollen or airborne pollutants, viruses, bacteria and moulds are also biological pollutants. During a public health crisis, the use of an air purifier makes sense to protect the health of employees that employers are responsible for in the workplace.

Chemical pollutants

Detergents, solvents, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) based on carbon and nitrogen, hydrogen or sulphur, exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, etc. are grouped together under the term “chemical pollutants”.

Physical pollutants

Included in this category are natural and synthetic fibres and fine dust, resulting from soot, which is probably the most dangerous pollutant to health. In addition, there are diesel particles or wood-burning residues. These tiny particles can thus penetrate deep into the lungs and reach the bloodstream.

Of varying degrees of danger, all of these pollutants are responsible for allergies that can sometimes prove incapacitating at work (asthma, eczema), or even more serious in the long term, as they are potentially carcinogenic.

Bad odours

In addition to the health aspect it offers, an air purifier removes odours from an office and thus considerably improves the working atmosphere. An air purifier can make the air more breathable, thus improving employee concentration.

How does an air purifier with filtration work?

An air purifier with filtration plugs into a mains socket. It then captures airborne impurities of various sizes with the help of several filters. A pre-filter collects macro-residues (visible to the naked eye) such as coarse dust, hair or threads.

The purpose of the pre-filter is to make a clean sweep so that the following filters can do their job when it comes to micro-particles, which are the most harmful to employees’ health. The main filter of the air purifier, the particle filter, comes into action to stop micro-particles such as pollen, dust mites, viruses, bacteria or fine particles. The HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter, the most efficient, filters out particles with a diameter of less than 0.3 µm2. To be approved, the HEPA filter must prove its efficiency by removing at least 99.97% of the fine particles present in a room.

Air purifiers are often additionally equipped with activated carbon filters that stop gaseous pollutants and volatile organic compounds such as smoke, formaldehydes (household products) and airborne chemicals. The carbon filter is also effective against bad odours. The price of an air purifier with filtration can vary, ranging from €15 to €700 depending on the model.

Other types of air purifiers

An air purifier with filtration is not the only device that can clean the air in an office. There are 4 other main types of air purifiers with different price ranges available on the market.

The electrostatic or ionisation air purifier

This works by making airborne particles heavier by generating negative ions (or anions) that cancel out naturally neutral or positively charged pollutant particles. This cancellation causes these fine particles which have become too heavy to then fall to the ground. They can then be captured by the air purifier. This process is very efficient and not noisy. However, it requires the ground to retain the fallen particles to be disinfected. Prices range from €60 to €600.

Photocatalytic air purifier

This device draws in ambient air using ultraviolet catalyst nanotubes coated with titanium dioxide. The action of ultraviolet light projected onto the catalyst allows the oxidation and neutralisation of the pollutants, which are transformed into water vapour and carbon dioxide. They cost between €130 and €600. The price of a top-of-the-range model can even go up to €2,000.

Combustion air purifier

By exerting a heating action on the ambient air, it burns the various particles (spores, bacteria, fungi, pollen) through a resistance of a temperature close to 200C. The air released into the room is then cooled and fully treated. This is also a very efficient and silent solution. The only downside is that it consumes more energy than other types of devices.

Plasma air purifier

Similar to the ionisation model, it stimulates the oxygen in the air by charging it with ozone and free radicals. The oxygen then attacks the pollutants present in the air and destroys them by oxidation. The molecules are then collected in a plasma cartridge. Purification, therefore, takes place outside the purifier by destroying the walls of the bacteria and viruses with the plasma cartridge.

Tips for choosing the right air purifier

After learning about the different types of air purifiers, the next step is to ensure that they suit the rooms involved and the working environment. In particular, you should take the following into consideration.

The size of the rooms and their layout

Choose a large, powerful product to purify large areas. On the other hand, a discreet, space-saving purifier is best for small rooms. The power of purification is expressed in m3/h. The power of the flow rate in relation to the number of square metres of the room to be purified is used to calculate the number of times the room is treated per hour.

Sound level

The ventilation system in a purifier, as well as the turbine, can be somewhat noisy, especially in office spaces where you require maximum concentration. So remember to check the decibel level of the device before making your choice.

Maintenance

If you choose a filter-based air purifier, you will need to make sure that the filters are changed regularly to ensure that the product works properly and is effective over time. Check that the filters have been approved by an independent laboratory that has confirmed a near-perfect performance.

The options

Certain options meet the above-mentioned issues. This is the case in particular for:

• A filter wear indicator that alerts you when you need to order replacement filters;
• Real-time ambient air quality indicator light;
• Level indicators for VOCs and particles are available on some devices;
• A night or silent mode, particularly useful for rooms with professional use;
• A connected monitoring system that allows you to track the air quality in several rooms in real-time and to set the parameters of the device via a remote control, a tablet or a smartphone;
• The “essential oil diffuser” option, purifies the air and diffuses pleasant odours.

There are a multitude of options available that obviously increase the price of the device, but also optimise its efficiency and protect against allergies and other possible health problems experienced by employees. All of the air treatment solutions that are suitable for