Active Bioremediation Systems
Active Hydroponic Systems for Air Purification and Energy Reduction in Building Systems
Contemporary construction materials and building types are complicit in the degradation of indoor air quality (IAQ) and have become principal contributors to health problems in developed countries. Compounding this is the poor, and in many cases severely deteriorating air quality within global metropolitan areas, which is an important determinant of population health and well-being. By integrally cleaning airborne contaminants associated with poor indoor air quality, building-integrated active bioremediation systems have the potential to decrease or even eliminate fresh air requirements required by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and with that the potential to both realize substantial energy savings in climate types with high heating and/or cooling loads and to reduce or eliminate the need to intake, treat and circulate poor quality air in heavily polluted urban areas.
Project Date: 2016
Researchers: Anna Dyson, Josh Draper, Paulo Pinheiro, Matt Gindlesparger, Jason Vollen, Ted Ngai, Alicia Walf, Kristen Bennett, John Erickson, Cynthia Collins, Ahu Aydogan, Phoebe Mankiewicz, Mandi Pretorius, Andreas Theodoridis, Mohamed Aly, Naomi Keena
Collaborators: Ranji Arpels-Josiah, Andrew Rosner, Paul Mankiewicz, SOM
Sponsors: NYSERDA, NYSTAR, NYC-DDC, KIP Grant (RPI)
Publications:
Aydogan, A., Dyson, A., Montoya, L.D. “From a Lab Scale to the Building Scale: Formaldehyde Removal by a Plant Module,” in Proceedings of Healthy Buildings 2015 America, (2015).
Wrobetz A., Aydogan Akseli, A., and Montoya, L.D. “Physical and Biological Characterization of Porous Media for VOC Removal,” in Proceedings of American Association for Aerosol Research 34th Annual Conference, (2015).
Dyson, A., Aydogan, A., Vollen J., Nyman, M., Bird, J. “Building-Integrated Active Modular Phytoremediation System,” in Proceedings of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting, 32d (2013).
Aydogan, Ahu, and Lupita D. Montoya. 2011. "Formaldehyde Removal by Common Indoor Plant Species and Various Growing Media." Atmospheric Environment 45 (16): 2675-82. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.02.062.