Could The Days Of Traditional Carbon Air Filters Be Numbered?

Air quality monitoring unit in city center, Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK. (Photo by: Geography ... [+] Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Look inside any indoor air quality device or system and the chances are you will find an activated carbon filter at its heart.

The filters have become increasingly popular for trapping gases and odors, like volatile organic compounds, which have long been recognized as pollutants.

But now the Swedish startup Adsorbi has developed a cellulose-based air purification material, which it claims has a much longer lifespan and is far more efficient.

And it has just raised 360,000 Euros in seed funding from Metsä Spring, Chalmers Ventures, and Jovitech Invest to help study product application possibilities and ramp up sales.

The co-founder and CEO of Adsorbi, Hanna Johansson said in an interview the original idea came from researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenberg, who were studying indoor air quality in museums.

Johansson told me museums and art galleries take the subject very seriously, because they need to protect artefacts in storage solutions from airborne pollutants and they also need to remove harmful particles that artwork can emit into the air.

She said many museums do not want to use activated carbon filters because it can be difficult to tell when the filters are saturated and need replacing.

In addition, Johansson said carbon filters have very low capacity and therefore need to be frequently replaced.

She added activated carbon can also release volatile organic compound gases back into the air.

“When we reached out to companies that manufacture air filters and install air filtration systems, we discovered many use cases where activated carbon is not working optimally and has quite low efficiency and capacity, which leads to very high costs,” Johnansson told me.

The patented air purification material developed by Adsorbi is bio-based, and its original raw material is sustainably harvested from the Nordic forests.

According to Johansson, it is excellent at capturing and storing air pollutants that can cause health problems in respiratory systems.

She added it could also have a wide range of applications.

For example, a significant market where it can remove activated carbon is the odour removal industry for shoes, bags, and cars – making these products more hygienic and prolonging the lifecycle of the product.

“Our patented material can be used wherever air pollutants are a problem - in air filters, products that remove bad odours, and in museums to protect works of art,” said Johnansson.

This means we can tackle several significant markets with one unique material.”

She said Adsorbi is currently working with various Swedish air filtration companies to help optimise the material to ensure it gives the best performance for their systems.

It is also working with a global distributor of art conservative solutions and a company that makes air freshener bags for shoes.

Adsorbi marks the first Swedish investment by the Finnish forest giant Metsä Group and its innovation company Metsä Spring.

Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring is actively looking to invest in the best possible innovations to replace fossil-based materials and chemicals in everyday products.

“We are very excited to invest in Adsorbi, which has a diverse and solid research background and business-minded founding team,” said Metsä Spring CEO Niklas von Weymarn in a statement.

“It is also working on a product made out of pulp, which makes Adsorbi of particular interest for Metsä Group. With Adsorbi in our portfolio, we are yet another step closer to removing fossil-based materials from everyday products”, he added.