"You Can't Scrub the Air, But a Furnace Filter Will Keep it Cleaner"
Popular Science
September 14, 2001
by Gail Dutton
The filter in your furnace can become a breeding ground for germs. And the furnace itself can do a fine job of delivering them into the air you breathe. But an air filter due out next year is designed to keep itself squeaky clean. Developed by Tennessee's Atmospheric Glow Technologies (using germ-warfare technology), it consists of a polypropylene fiber sandwiched between two electrodes.
Here's how it works; The electrodes charge the air around the filter. This charged air, know as glow plasma, creates reactive molecules that kill bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores by "poking holes in the cell membranes," says company president and chief manager Kimberly Kelly-Witenberg. She adds that the filter needs to run just 10 minutes a day to kill virtually all the germs it traps.
The 500-watt Plasma Sterilized Air Filter will be installed where conventional filters currently go (typically, where return air from the house enters the furnace). Both commercial and home models will be available. The target cost of the home version is about $3,500.