This Month's Feature Product Airpura P600 & P600+ Ultimate protection! - combines true HEPA for particulate and allergens; activated carbon filtration and photocatalytic oxidation for VOCs, chemicals and odors; and ultraviolet (UV) sterilization for microorganisms

Air Purifier Technologies / Types of Air Purifiers

Choosing an air purifier technology or type of air purifier can be a pretty daunting task with so many varieties and so much marketing hype and promotion by the various air purifier manufacturers. Our goal is to help give you an unbiased review of the most common air purification technologies on the market today as well as some insights into some new technologies that are gaining interest in the market. As a distributor for a variety of manufacturers, our goal is to help you find the air purifier best suited to your own specific needs and budget. Different technologies are typically best suited to specific types of contaminants. In many cases, an air purifier that incorporates more than one technology, or the use of 2 or more air purifiers will give you the best results possible for your situation.

We will discuss the following air purifier technologies (click on the name of the technology in the chart for detailed information):

Technology CLICK ON THE NAME FOR MORE INFO. Dust Dust Mites Mold Spores Pollen Pet Dander Tobacco Smoke Chemicals & VOCs General Odors Bacteria/ Viruses HEPA recommended for particulate reduction Activated Carbon recommended for chemcials and odors Electrostatic Precipitators not recommended Ionic / Ion Generators not recommended Ultraviolet (UV) Light recommended for microorganisms Incineration recommended for microorganisms Ozone warning - not safe for home use!

Our Rating Scale:

poor

fair

good

very good

excellent

As you will see from our ratings, no single air purifier technology adequately addresses all contaminant classes. For this reason, most high-end air purifiers will use a variety of technologies to achieve broad-spectrum contaminant removal across all major contaminant groups. For instances, both the Austin Air and Airpura brands use a combination of HEPA for particulate contaminants like dust, dust mites, mold spores, pollen and pet dander; and an activated carbon filter to remove harmful gasses, chemicals, smoke, and odors. Airpura also offers an optional UV sterilizer to improve effectiveness against microbiological contaminants like bacteria.

It is also important to note that just because an air purifier uses a specific technology, it does not necessarily mean that it can effectively remove the types of contaminants that the technology can normally remove. For instance, many inexpensive air purifiers contain an activated carbon or "charcoal" filter, but they often contain only a very small amount of carbon and are almost completely useless at removing odors and airborne chemicals.