Activated carbon home air purifiers and dioxins

[pavel93]

Hi, im living in big city with includes several waste incineration plants and i has a three questions:

1. Can a activated carbon filter in home air purifier retain dioxin(TCDD, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin)?

2. If yes then why manufacturers of air purifiers with carbon filter do not indicate that they can retain dioxin?

3. Is it possible to determine whether a other particular substance(ozone, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen sulfide, benzene etc.) will be retained by the filter?

Thanks a lot.

[Endy0816]

Yes they can. To act as a filter they trap what comes in.

Ultimate safety depends on how or if regeneration occurs. Only a couple of times are recommended for home use.

Edited May 18, 2019 by Endy0816

[John Cuthber]

18 hours ago, pavel93 said:

Can a activated carbon filter in home air purifier retain dioxin

Yes.

18 hours ago, pavel93 said:

If yes then why manufacturers of air purifiers with carbon filter do not indicate that they can retain dioxin?

Because dioxin, with a vapour pressure near 10-^-9  mmHg is practically involatile so it isn't a vapour hazard.

Any dioxin "in the air" is  almost certain to be stuck to dust.

Any filter that strips the dust will also remove practically all the dioxins.

Why bother with activated charcoal?

 

18 hours ago, pavel93 said:

Is it possible to determine whether a other particular substance(ozone, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen sulfide, benzene etc.) will be retained by the filter?

Yes. In the case of ozone , it reacts to give carbon monoxide .

Charcoal will remove the other  compounds- until the filter is saturated.

It is difficult to be sure if the filter is saturated.

 

Some materials are more strongly retained than others and you can have a situation where one material displaces another.