There are lots of different kinds of air purifiers on the market that promise to keep the air in your household free of smoke, smells, allergens and other airborne particles — even diseases like coronavirus. Poor air quality can potentially cause or exacerbate many health problems, which has made air purifiers a common household appliance. And now there's a different type technology to help keep the air in your home clean: Clean Air Zone, a completely green air purification system.
The most common air purifiers use HEPA filters, which catch airborne particles as small as 0.01 microns and keep them from circulating in the air. The downside is that you typically need to replace filters regularly. Ionic air purifiers use an electric charge to catch airborne particles and trap them, but the ionization process produces small amounts of ozone, a pollutant. Other air purifiers rely on UV light to destroy airborne particles, drawing in air and then blasting it with UV light that can kill viruses — but these require special UV bulbs that need replacing. All of this means that many air purifiers can actually add to pollution.
But the Clean Air Zone purifier (CAZ), one of our Top Picks of CES 2021, is 100% green. It works somewhat like a HEPA air purifier, drawing air in with a fan and catching it — except CAZ doesn't use a filter. Instead, it captures airborne particles in water, and then destroys them with a specialized blend of enzymes. Instead of leaving pollutants, allergens, or viruses on a filter, CAZ is designed to get rid of them completely. You'll need to fill it with fresh water about once a week, and add more enzyme solution about three times a year — but the system generates no waste of its own, and the enzyme mix is harmless.
CAZ capture ultrafine particles as small as 0.00006 microns — quite a bit smaller than what other air purifiers can capture — and eliminates 99.99% of contaminates. Lab studies confirm the system is effective against mold, bacteria, viruses, allergens, smoke, and other VOCs. It's specifically been tested for its ability to get rid of COVID-19: once the virus particles get into the enzyme solution, they were destroyed within 10 minutes. But remember that doesn't mean you can rely on CAZ — or any other air filtration systems — to completely keep you safe from the coronavirus. The system effectively kills the virus once it's caught in the enzyme solution, but the virus could linger in the air for long enough to infect someone before CAZ can catch it and destroy it. And if virus particles have settled on surfaces, CAZ can't do anything about them. Clean Air Zone can help keep you safe from viruses, but it isn't a cure all and you should always follow CDC best practices for coronavirus and other diseases.
The system is a pricy investment: a unit costs $1,495 and needs $100 worth of enzyme solution every four months to clean spaces from 700 to 1200 square feet in size. A standard HEPA air purifier covering the same space costs a few hundred dollars and requires a filter change (replacements usually cost under $50) every three to six months depending on air quality. For maintenance, you'll need to add water to the tank about once a week, and clean it about once a year.
Look for Clean Air Zone to be available later this year on Clean Air Zone.
[Image credit: Clean Air Zone]
