Study on the Improvement of Work Environment by Photocatalyst in the Laboratory Animal Room

Abstract

The presence of odorants and airborne bacterium within animal laboratories posed personal discomfort as well as health risks to researchers and their staff. This led to the development of photo-catalytic based filtration technology, capable of absorbing and decomposing odors in addition to sterilizing airborne bacterium, for an indoor air-circulation device. We performed several experiments to determine its characteristics. The result was a detection of tri-methylamine, which was found to contribute 94.6% of the odor in the laboratory animal room. Tri-methylamine is an important indicator in the odor environment for researchers and working staff. During field tests within animal laboratories, the experimental filtration system removed about 82% of the tri-methylamine and 51% of the ammonia immediately, and decreased odor concentration from 12 to 5 or less (by the triangle odor bag method), at which point no odor was perceived. The odor concentration at the outlet of the device was maintained at less than 5 during a trial period of two months. At the same time, the filtration device removed 64–95% of all airborne bacteria within the animal laboratories. In addition, the photo-catalytic filter that attained adsorptive saturation was successfully regenerated by using the photo-catalytic ability.The results of experiment demonstrated that the test device is more effective in absorbing and removing odor and bacteria in the animal laboratory rooms than similar devices. The photo-catalytic filtration system was effective for removing odor constantly being generated in the mouse animal room.