Innovative Germicidal UV and Photocatalytic System Dedicated to Aircraft Cabin Eliminates Volatile Organic Compounds and Pathogenic Micro-Organisms

Air quality on aircraft cabins has become a major public health issue due to the increasing number of air travels since few decades. Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOC) and micro-organisms is a major concern for human and animal welfare in indoor confinements and especially in aircraft cabins. Here we present an innovative air purification system based on the association of UV-C and photocatalysis. The SAVAB project is aiming at a higher decontamination degree of aircraft cabin air, thus improving health and comfort standards of aircraft crew and passengers. We show a degradation of irritating/noxious VOC such as formaldehyde, toluene, benzene, acetone, which are major pollutants of the aircraft cabins according the NF EN 4618 standard. In the same study, we also demonstrate the inactivation of pathogenic Influenza virus, adenovirus and pathogenic bacteria such as Legionella pneumophila, Burkholderia cepacia, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This innovative system demonstrates its ability to improve air quality in indoor confinements of travel-motorized units such as aircraft cabins and could be applied in hospital environments.