Contaminant	Solution
Bacteria, fungi, and viruses	Finer filters with efficiency of 99.97% DOP for submicron particles
Dust and fibers	Finer filters with high dirt holding capacity
Visible cigarette smoke	Finer filters with high smoke holding capacity
Odors and vapors	Adsorbent filters
Carbon Dioxide	Regenerative adsorbent filters
Ozone	Adsorbent filters and converters

Filter design must be tailored to each airframe, depending on variables specific to the proposed application. These include removal efficiency, airflow velocities, installation configuration, acceptable pressure drop, life requirements and many other parameters. Pall draws on its extensive engineering and scientific resources to achieve optimum filtration performance while meeting the need to minimize the weight and amount of space occupied by the system.

The aircraft's cabin air is kept clean thanks to a combination of high efficiency barrier filtration and odor removal adsorbents.

Pall provides the design and engineering expertise required to optimize filter performance for any given envelope. Designs are developed through the use of sophisticated CATIA 3-D modeling and simulation software that significantly reduces the time your filtration solution spends in development.

Many microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, cause infections in humans. Normal activities like breathing, coughing, sneezing and talking disperse millions of these aerosol particles. Recirculated air may distribute these microbial aerosols throughout the cabin unless high performance filtration is employed. Airborne mold spores can be irritating as well as produce allergic reactions (including some forms of asthma) in sensitive people.

Health Effects Associated With Microbial Aerosols

• Respiratory Impairment
  - Pulmonary Diseases
  - Nasal Infections
  - Asthma
• Ear Infections
• Sinus Diseases
• Irritations and Inflammations
  - Skin
  - Nose
  - Eyes
  - Respiratory Tract
• Allergies
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Nausea, Dizziness
  

Where permitted, tobacco smoke is the most obvious cabin air quality offender in terms of visible haze, odor, irritation, and the possible impact on health from secondary smoke. There are also practical considerations for aircraft operation. Cigarette smoke causes deposits in the environmental control system (ECS) and sometimes in the avionics systems, which produces an aircraft weight gain over time. Removal of these deposits from the ECS can be a major expense. By removing the aerosol particles of visible smoke, Pall filters alleviate the accumulation of tobacco smoke deposits within the aircraft.

Another major contaminant in cabin air is fibers. These are released into the air primarily from the clothes of passengers and crew during boarding and deplaning, but can also come from the carpet and fabrics in the plane itself. Airborne fibers can be a nasal and respiratory irritant.

Carbon dioxide, organic vapors in engine bleed air, volatile cleaners and solvents, and outgassing from polymer structures and fabrics, are typical constituents of cabin air. Other gaseous components may also be present, such as ozone, carbon monoxide, body odors and those emanating from the galley, lavatories or cargo space. Cigarettes, in addition to visible smoke, also generate inorganic and complex hydrocarbon gases.

Pall has many years of experience providing microbial protection filters for intensive care and anesthesia in hospitals and sterile air filters in highly critical areas of pharmaceutical production. Furthermore, in the aerospace field, Pall has pioneered the control of particle contamination in critical systems, including hydraulics, engine lube and fuel, and turbine engine air intakes, as well as from aircraft environmental control systems (ECS).

Because of this, Pall is uniquely positioned to combine expertise in aerospace and heathcare filtration. For commercial aircraft, Pall can provide microbial filtration equipment that removes submicron particles with an efficiency as high as 99.97% at 0.3 micron, significantly reducing the level of airborne particulate contamination. Pall microbial retentive filters provide the microbial equivalent of outside air to the passenger cabin. Furthermore, in most applications, microbial filtration can be provided within the existing envelope and provide C-Check (about one year) filter service life.

In addition, our decades of experience developing adsorption equipment, including current developments in adsorption technology for the electronic industry, makes Pall highly qualified to provide equipment for removal of odorous and noxious gaseous contaminants.

In recent years there has been a trend toward reducing the amount of outside air entering the cabins of commercial aircraft. Because outside air supplied to the cabin is first pressurized by the aircraft's engine compressors, any reduction in bleed air usage increases the engine's efficiency and reduces fuel consumption and operating costs. These benefits have driven OEM's and operators toward higher proportions of recirculated cabin air. Recirculation saves considerably on fuel costs, but may potentially increase the exposure of passengers and crew to microbes and other particulate pollutants.

The large number of passengers within the cabin creates high generation rates of dust, fibers, and cigarette smoke, as well as bacteria and other microorganisms. All of these are potential health hazards to both crew and passengers. In order to enhance passenger and crew health and comfort there is a need for cabin air filtration fine enough to control these contaminants.