NORMACAT project: normalized closed chamber tests for evaluation of photocatalytic VOC treatment in indoor air and formaldehyde determination

BACKGROUND, AIM: The aims of the NORMACAT project are: to develop tools and unbiased standardized methods to measure the performance and to validate the safety of new materials and systems integrating photocatalysis, to develop new photocatalytic media with higher efficiency and to give recommendations aimed at improving the tested materials and systems. METHOD: To achieve this objective, it was necessary to design standardized test benches and protocols to assess photocatalytic efficiency of materials or systems used in the treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and odour under conditions close to applications. The tests are based on the validation of robust analytical methods at the parts per billion by volume level that not only follow the disappearance of the initial VOCs but also identify the secondary species and calculate the mineralization rates. RESULTS: The first results of inter-laboratory closed chamber tests, according to XP B44-013 AFNOR standard, are described. The photocatalytic degradation of mixtures of several defined pollutants under controlled conditions (temperature, relative humidity, initial concentration) was carried out in two independent laboratories with the same photocatalytic device and with various analytical procedures. Comparison of the degradation rate and of the mineralization efficiency allowed the determination of the clean air delivery rate in both cases. Formaldehyde was the only by-product detected during photocatalytic test under standardized experimental conditions. The concentration of transient formaldehyde varied according to the initial VOC concentration. Moreover the photocatalytic reaction rate of formaldehyde in mixture with other pollutants was analysed. It was concluded that formaldehyde concentration did not increase with time. CONCLUSION—PERSPECTIVE: This type of experiment should allow the comparison of the performances of different photoreactors and of photocatalytic media under controlled and reproducible conditions against mixtures of pollutants including formaldehyde.