These are the type of air purifiers you see at health fairs and conventions. They also may contribute to lung irritation and asthma if they are set too high and put too much ozone into the household environment. In Presence Of Fragrant Cleaning Products, Air Purifiers That Emit Ozone Can Dirty The Air: "Indoor air purifiers that produce even small quantities of ozone may actually make the air dirtier when used at the same time as household cleaning products, scientists at UC Irvine have discovered.
'The public needs to be aware that every air purification approach has its limitation, and ionization air purifiers are no exception,' said Sergey Nizkorodov, assistant professor of chemistry at UCI and co-author of the study. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Irvine)
Ozone emitted by purifiers reacts in the air with unsaturated volatile organic compounds such as limonene – a chemical added to cleaning supplies that gives them a lemon fragrance – to create additional microscopic particles, scientists found. Certain ionic purifiers emit ozone as a byproduct of ionization used for charging airborne particles and electrostatically attracting them to metal electrodes. Ozonolysis purifiers emit ozone at higher levels on purpose with the ostensible goal of oxidizing volatile organic compounds in the air."
