It is now a fact that it will take time to roll out the vaccine to mass populations globally. Together with new strains of the virus, we may well see the need for current deterrents such as social distancing, wearing masks and even lockdowns, persisting for a long while yet.
It is with this continued uncertainty that multidimensional solutions, working together, will still need to be considered long into the future. Implementing more and many solutions together would certainly help reduce the need to continuously rely on retreating and destructive lockdowns. Implementing these solutions in all schools, offices, transport and hospitality sectors would ultimately help society get back to some functional and operational form.
Our clean air technology is already helping businesses build a resilient and safer future
It has been shown the more prevalent particulate matter and CO2, the more prevalent COVID-19. This is particularly relevant to city environments, large offices and crowded internal spaces. There is a strong argument therefore, that by focusing on clean air technologies, alongside other defensive COVID-19 measures, businesses have a chance to not only stay open, but make internal environments safer and healthier places to be.
Yellow Collective’s technology can play a key role to drive a clean air strategy during this pandemic as well as help businesses regulate pollution CO2 and drive bottom line benefits.
The technology encompasses a germicidal UVC lamp and a photocatalyst. When combined in a unit with a coaxial fan that circulates air 10-12 times per hour and our technology delivers clean viral load reductions in excess of 99.99% and clean room air standards for other contaminants like particulate matter.
Public Transport case study
COVID-19 has caused significant disruption to the UK and the rail transport sector. Following the first lockdown in the UK, according to the department of transport, passenger numbers fell dramatically to 4%. With air passing through our fan system at least 10x per hour to mirror clean room standards, our clean air technology provides the industry with an effective method of reducing the airborne transmission of coronavirus, removing air pollutants, and combating greenhouse gas emissions.
Partnering with Siemens, Yellow Collective is helping to make rail and public transport safe and pollution free. With ambitions to install our technology across the network, the aim is to provide another layer of virus protection and restore passenger confidence and engagement to pre COVID-19 numbers.
Our clean air for rail trial has seen our technology fitted in rail carriages and proven to effectively eliminate particulate matter from the enclosed passenger environments.
The objective of this trial was to measure specific pathogens. Under test, the Clean Air System produced an average reduction of 30% PM1, 31% PM2.5 and 27% PM10. In addition to success in killing viruses and pathogens there was also a significant (20%) decline in CO2 emissions.
TThese results mean our technology could be an alternative to other means of dealing with CO2 such as capturing and storing it underground.
So how does it reduce CO2? Our photocatalytic process creates more energy than the energy within carbon – oxygen bonds, and hence breaks them. This enables more oxygen to be added in resulting in the formation of carbonates. These carbonates form a salt, a benign particulate, and could well be contained within water droplets, depending on humidity, exiting out system, ultimately to be deposited on the ground.
The conclusion of these remarkable results demonstrate that the carbon sink capability of the Clean Air System is akin to planting 8 trees in a rail carriage, or removing 1.3 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
We estimate that a standard 10” x 30” fan has the same environmental impact as a 20-year-old tree in its air cleansing power.
Overall, our Clean Air System not only helps combat the COVID-19 pandemic specifically, it also provides numerous benefits that deliver on long term business and bottom-line objectives.
Some of the benefits stretch out among the following areas:
- Sustained reduction in pathogens; killing bacteria, viruses (incl. seasonal flu, coronaviruses, etc.), endospores, algae, fungi, etc., thus reducing disease transmission
- A healthier environment to live, work and play in by decreasing pollutants, including reduced levels of:
- Carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Particulate Matter (PM)
- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
- Formaldehyde (CH2O)
- Methane (CH4)
- Other alkanes
- Other greenhouse gases
- Contributes towards emission reduction and zero carbon objectives
- Improved air quality in enclosed spaces, resulting in improved comfort and increased customer and employee confidence.
- Reduced cleaning and service decontamination costs through reduced viral fall rate
How our technology works
Photocatalysis
The core science that drives our technology is a UVC light activated photocatalyst applied to a high surface area matrix s a coating. When switched on, air is drawn into the UVC illuminated technology by a coaxial fan. *99.99% of pathogens are initially killed or deactivated by the UVC lamp. In addition, the activated photocatalyst splits naturally occurring water molecules in the air. This produces Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), the same ROS are produced by our immune response to fight disease. These highly reactive ROS include .OH, .O2– 1O2 H2O2 which react with proteins and lipids in cell walls destroying the pathogens in the process typically by an order of 2 log scales of efficacy. Simultaneously, the ROS react with pollution (NOx SOx VOCs and Particulate Matter (PM)) and, importantly, CO2 converting them into benign products.
A way to visualize this process is to imagine horns or spikes that come up from the coating surface when stimulated by the light which react with cell walls and pollutants as they are pushed onto the surface of the matrix by the turbulence created by the coaxial fan.
Our technology is effectively a decontamination chamber where the air is safely repaired of pollution, CO2 & airborne infection by the photocatalytic reaction.
*According to the UVC light manufactures incorporated into the fan, 99.99% of airborne viruses and pollution are destroyed. [Osram 2020]
