Air filtration at universities

Universities and colleges are buildings where individual rooms or laboratories often have a large number of people. A large group in closed rooms means that the quality of air in educational buildings is extremely important for both health and educational outcomes.

Sources of air pollution at universities

Teaching staff, including lecturers and other university employees, as well as students themselves staying on the premises of university buildings are exposed to inhaling harmful particles: from allergens or viruses to highly harmful fine suspended dust. These types of particles are the most dangerous to our health, because they can penetrate into the lungs. The increase in the concentration of fine dust at universities and higher schools is influenced by the equipment of university buildings, people staying in the rooms and typical activities performed at universities (e.g. use of paper). The concentration of microscopic particles is also influenced by dust and dirt found on university building equipment, which begins to float in the air as people move around. Especially in university libraries, where the presence of numerous books and scientific materials causes a lot of it to accumulate. In addition to lecture halls and practice rooms, universities are also equipped with specialist workshops and laboratories for various purposes, where the type of air pollution may differ significantly from that in the case of ordinary lecture halls or communication and utility rooms such as corridors. Moreover, most universities and higher schools are located in cities, often large urban agglomerations, where the air is polluted by, among others, smog and car exhaust fumes, which further worsens the air quality inside buildings.

Impact of poor air quality on students and lecturers

The quality of air in public and educational buildings is of great importance. The quality of the air inside affects not only the health of the people inside, but also the quality of learning, the effects of education and the efficiency of teaching staff. The main ailments related to poor air quality that can bother students and university employees include:

• tiredness
• headaches
• dizziness
• upper respiratory tract irritation
• irritability
• deterioration of concentration

Which filters are best for air purification at universities?

Educational buildings are quite diverse in terms of sources of air pollution. University laboratories are a room where the air cannot be polluted. Clean air inside such rooms is of great importance for the safety of the people staying in them and the proper course of research or other activities performed within such rooms. In the case of universities and colleges, and especially laboratory rooms, the first and extremely important filtration system is HEPA filters, the efficiency of which is determined for particles of 0.3 µm, because for such particles it is the lowest. However, this type of filter also effectively eliminates much smaller contaminants. For hospital or laboratory rooms, where filter efficiency must be as high as possible, HEPA filters are used: H13 or H14, which effectively eliminate 99.95% of pollutants of size 0.3 in the case of HEPA H13 filters and 99.995% in the case of H14. Carbon filters are also a good solution as they remove harmful pollutants such as volatile organic compounds or odors.