Cigarette smoke removal problem 3

[brianhed]

Hi, I'm trying to filter cigarette smoke from an interior smoking room. The ONLY catch is the filtered air can not be exhausted to the outside atmosphere.
So far a Trion Airboss M3000 was tried (sucking from ceiling vents). Smoke odor is making it through the 3 stage filtering (prefilter, bag filter, and a charoal absorbsion section).....then it gets exhausted to an unused crawl space. The odor is strong enough to make it to usable spaces.

Any good ideas out there?

I estimate about 6 smokers at a time and about a 12x12 space. Thanks!

 

[IRstuff]

May be overkill, but an industrial fume scrubber might work:

http://www.vanaire.com/fumescrub.html

http://www.misonix.com/products/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewcategory&cat=3&div=2

TTFN

 

[ChrisConley]

Just curious, why can't the air be exhausted to the outdoors?

The other thing you could try is an ozone generator, the ozone helps with odour control.

 

[VEEKRISH]

A good quality Activated Carbon Filter would be helpful. I've used that very effectively.

Controlled Ozone Injection is also an answer.Probably be more expensive, but, highly effective to remove all sorts of odors and VOCs.

 

[brianhed]

Thanks,
I'll look into the Activated Carbon Filters. I would hate to waste the Airboss.

Chris, there is no "outdoors" to exhaust it to
IR, your right those are big!

 

[friartuck]

Try the 'AIR' campaign (Atmosphere Improves Results.

They will let you know the names of all the companies who make fully tried and tested (and certificated) smoke filtration units.

These were developed to help in keeping pubs clean.

There are several models.

The best ones use several stages of filtration.

Good ones have activated carbon....but the chemicals used have to be the right reactive kind..(Not just any activated carbon will do)

The other stages of filtration should be pre (coarse) and a HEPA.

I recall AirClean Ltd was a very good unit.

Electrostatics work if you maintain them regularly (which just doesn't happen)

Friar Tuck of Sherwood

 

[aspearin1]

I'm not terribly familiar with typical air filtration for HVAC systems, but I may have some insight on what materials to look for in your system. First of all, you are right, your Airboss is not suited for this purpose. From your description, the only portion of the Airboss doing any of the work will be the final charcoal section, which wouldn't last very long as the tar would quickly blind the surface, making it unavailable to remove the rest of the toxins. Adsorptive filtration is what you need in a prefilter as well as a final filter. For a prefilter, I would suggest not going with any synthetic material. Filter fabrics made of cellulosic material (cotton prefered) have a much higher adsorptive capacity for something like smoke than many of the synthetic fibers used for filtration like polypropylene due to surface area and active sites on the cellulose molecule. I imagine a cotton depth type prefilter might suit best and remove most of the larger hydrocarbons that make up the tar. After this, you'd want a final adsorptive filter like activated carbon, zeolite, or diatomaceous earth to polish out the smaller toxins like Arsenic, carbon monoxide, volatile metals, and etc.

Forgive me if I confused the situation. I just wanted to give some insight on what options you may want to look for when speaking to a vendor. You won't need anything to filter out particles per se, so I wouldn't suggest any thin membrane filters or anything with a rating more than .2 micron. Plain and simple, you need to maximize your adsorptive surface area. The thinner the fibers are in the fabric, the better.

ChemE, M.E. EIT
"The only constant in life is change." -Bruce Lee

 

[FrancisL]

Take a look at

http://www.smokefreesystems.com/

They work very well.

 

[ChasBean1]

I've been thinking... is this just academic? No outside might be true for a submarine or in space. Ask an astronaut or a navy guy, however, I'll guarantee there's no 12'x12' space available (much less for smokers) in a space station or submarine!!! Hmmmm...

 

[brianhed]

LOL, curiosity killed the cat. There is one more area that you left out.

BTW, I was on a submarine for many years, and there is a pretty large designated smoking area. (Lower level aux. machinery room)

I wont give up on the airboss just yet, I will try aspearin's ideas with the filters. Also, the Ozone units are intriguing. (they also combat mold)

 

[ChrisConley]

The only other area I could think of with 'no outside' might be down deep in a mine. Am I close?

 

[lilliput1]

Now you know why smoking is not allowed in buildings. Only HEPA filter can filter out tobacco smoke!

 

[xitrum]

Try "ion exchange" type in combination with Carbon filter.