SCHOTT solutions no. 2/2014 > Environmental Technology

Engineers at Triplan Umwelttechnik have developed innovative photocatalytic ventilation systems that achieve a high level of efficiency. Special glass from SCHOTT is used as an ideal catalyst carrier. Photo: SCHOTT/ H.-J. Schulz
Washing the air
The Bavarian company Triplan Umwelttechnik is bringing fresh air to old buildings with an innovative idea: its engineers use UV light to banish moldy, musty smells from rooms. Special glass from SCHOTT Tubing helps remove the unwanted odors.
Sebastian Kirschner
Corked wine and musty rooms: both are unpleasant – and both often have the same cause. The wood preservatives used in impregnated pallets and the wooden beams of old houses over decades release gases that cause moldy smelling aerosols to appear, the same molecules that accumulate on corks and give a once delicious wine that feared corked taste. Help comes in the form of photocatalysis – a process that decomposes the undesirable gases using a catalyst and UV radiation. But existing solutions have their drawbacks: ”The present technology is neither very efficient nor particularly sustainable,” explains Andreas Beck, Managing Director of Triplan Umwelttechnik.
But now, Beck and his team of engineers have developed the TRIPLAN LightClean® ventilation solution. It uses glass instead of paper as the carrier for the catalyst. The device, a simple, stainless steel column with a built-in ventilator, first sucks up the polluted air in the room. ”The contaminant molecules accumulate inside TRIPLAN LightClean® on a panel consisting of small glass tubes measuring about six inches in length,” says Beck. The individual glass tubes are coated with a semiconductor material using a specially developed process. When stimulated by UV light, cold combustion converts the contaminants into carbon dioxide and water. TRIPLAN LightClean® then releases the cleansed air back into the room.

DURAN® tubes are an ideal substrate for the catalytic semiconductor material. In addition, they are also very durable. Photo: SCHOTT/ H.-J. Schulz

Andreas Beck (right), Managing Director at Triplan, is already thinking of new uses for the innovative ventilation system. Photo: SCHOTT/ H.-J. Schulz
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