ELIMINATION OF AIRBORNE VOLATILE COMPOUNDS THROUGH INCORPORATION OF ADVANCED 3D NANOSTRUCTURED CATALYTIC COATINGS IN ADSORPTION/DECOMPOSITION AIR PURIFICATION SYSTEMS

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NIH (NIEHS) ​SBIR Phase I Proposal Metalmark Innovations, Inc. Project Summary / Abstract Indoor air quality (IAQ) directly impacts human health, cognitive function, productivity, and comfort. While numerous technologies (e.g. filtration, sorption, and photocatalytic degradation) have been developed to address poor IAQ, each one has its own drawbacks, and they are particularly inefficient at targeting low boiling point volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as the ubiquitous carcinogen, formaldehyde, and ultrafine particulates (UFPs, size <0.1 µm), which are frequently found in indoor air. This NIEHS SBIR Phase I proposal will lay the foundations for a commercializable prototype that will enable safe, low-cost, and highly efficient degradation of the types of indoor pollutants that continue to constitute a significant IAQ problem. Toward this goal, Metalmark Innovations has developed a platform technology for the fabrication of low cost 3D micro- and nano-structured catalysts with enhanced activity for the decomposition of various VOCs. The high modularity and level of control over the composition and microstructure provided by the platform technology makes the development and optimization of the catalysts straightforward, allowing to create highly efficient materials. In this project, a prototypical air purification subsystem, integrating Metalmark’s advanced catalysts with sorbent materials, will be designed and tested. A major goal of this SBIR is to investigate the time dependency and operating conditions for the efficient operation of the two technologies in combination and to define the optimal operating procedure for the complete decomposition of target VOCs. Such system-level design is crucial for the realization of cost-efficient treatment of indoor VOCs. Success of the projects would greatly advance the technology toward commercialization, including catalytic material scale up, product design, and manufacturing with industry partners.