The impact of PM2.5 on the human respiratory system

Health benefit/burden, PM2 .5 removal effectiveness, and power consumption based comparison of common residential air-cleaning technologies in the United States

This modeling study compared the common air cleaners in U.S. residences based on averted disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) related to indoor PM_2.5 concentration reduction and the DALYs resulted from carbon-di-oxide (CO₂ ) emissions from power consumption. The technologies compared include mechanical fibrous filters, electret fibrous filters, and electronic air cleaners. For DALYs estimation, the indoor PM_2.5 concentration and power consumption were first calculated and compared. These were then multiplied by the respective health damage factors. Air cleaners were compared under several indoor particle size distributions scenarios. A methodology was developed to evaluate the influence of the aging of air cleaners on the selected comparison criteria. The results suggest that the averted DALYs from indoor PM_2.5 concentration reduction far supersedes the indirect DALYs associated with the operational power consumption of the air cleaners. Hence, the DALY-based ranking of the air cleaners considered was the same as that of their effectiveness to reduce indoor PM_2.5 concentrations. However, the result should be taken with care as only the use-phase of air cleaners was considered. For future study, a complete life-cycle assessment is recommended. Considering aging can change the ranking of the air cleaners and is thus advised to be incorporated in further studies.