C+ AIR

The quality of indoor air is both a public health issue (some volatile organic compounds are carcinogenic), home comfort (reduction of odors) and a defense issue (detoxification of confined spaces). The main challenge in purifying indoor air pollutants or odors are linked to the low concentration but very different chemical nature in an air whose water vapor content is typically 10 000 times higher; This makes conventional filtration or oxidation technologies not very efficient especially for halogen and sufur containing pollutants. After several years of research and development, the purification technology of indoor air by coupling a cold plasma and a catalyst is now mature. The principle is to adsorb the pollutants on a filter and regenerate the adsorbent properties of this filter through oxidizing species produced by a cold plasma in contact with the filter. The great advantage of cold plasmas is to create highly oxidizing species with very low energy expenditure. The LPP is a leader in air pollution control by Plasma-Catalysis coupling on which he worked for many years; it is one of the few laboratories in France to master the purification of the air in the range of a few ppb.Products for household use using the Plasma-catalysis technology are marketed: the company ALKO recently put on the market the ALKO PURE device using research undertaken in collaboration with the LPP. However All these purification catalyst devices using plasma technology currently on the market are relatively bulky. We propose to partner with a company that produces and sells indoor air treatment devices of intermediate size to achieve an air purification ultra-compact module using the expertise gained in terms of choice of catalysts and working on the miniaturization of the device. The motivation of this technological development is to create purification devices for highly efficient air confined spaces. Unlike existing devices on the market, we will strive not silent appearance, but the efficiency and speed of purification. Civilian or military applications include confined spaces for deodorization, purification or detoxification of small parts or car interiors, armored gear, aircraft, submarines, building surfaces, even shelters. The challenges of our project are: - The miniaturization of the plasma device and airflow device - Oxydation of halogen and sufur containing pollutants - Optimization of self catalytic filter performance for a wide range of pollutants civilian and military fields. This experimental research program is scheduled to last three years and lead to the construction of two prototypes directly industrializable respondents to the above issues.