Floral Cooler & Store Facility

Airocide PPTTM Perishables Preservation Technology
Airocide PPTTM photocatalytic air purifiers contain the same NASA-developed technology that is used in a variety of Airocide product lines. In addition to serving the food safety industry as well as in floral and perishable preservation Airocide technology has been developed to kill/remove/eliminate airborne pathogenic and non-pathogenic microorganisms in vegetative and spore states (bacteria, mold, fungi, viruses and dust mites), allergens, odors and harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air in a variety of commercial, government and residential market applications including the medical healthcare industry (Airocide is listed as an FDA Class II Medical Device).

Summary

A clinical study of the Airocide PPT airborne pathogen killing technology was conducted in the floral cooler and the store facility of Arteflor, major cut flower wholesaler in Madrid, Spain. The data supports the hypothesis that airborne mold and bacteria levels would be lowered after 11 days of continuous operation of the Airocide PPT air purifying system. The results show an average airborne reduction of 99.99% inside the store and of 100% inside the cooler.

Protocol

The store and floral cooler used in this study were approximately 180 m³ and 6 m³ in volume, respectively. The test period consisted of eleven (11) days of air sampling in April 2005. Active On samples were taken in the same two locations after eleven (11) days of continuous Airocide use on the 18/04/05. All air samples were taken for future comparison. Air samples were taken with a slit air sampler (similar to the Andersen N6 sampler) on 15 x 100 mm plastic petri dishes. Samples were cultured on Sabouraud Chloramphenicol Agar plate by Centro Analítico Pozuelo, Madrid, providing the resulting measured colony forming units (CFU) per cubic meter of air. All agar plates were exposed to 0.5 l/sec of air and a total measured air volume of 1000 l.

Results

Table 1 shows airborne reduction inside the store facility and the cooler of 99.99% and 100% or an average of 99.99% in eleven (11) days.