FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to a process for disinfecting air.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A great variety of process have been known for purifying and disinfecting air. These are based mostly on bringing the air to be purified or disinfected in connection with a corresponding medium in order to extract the dirt and/or bacterial components from the air or to kill the latter. It has been known that ozone, atomic oxigen and HO radicals are among the most potent oxidizing agents and they exert a very strong bactericidal action due to their high oxidizing power.

SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a process for disinfecting air that is, on the one hand, inexpensive in terms of both the cost of the necessary materials to be consumed and its performance and, on the other hand, does not generate any end products that are hazardous for health.

This object is accomplished according to the present invention by the air flow to be disinfected being enriched with hydrogen peroxide and by the hydrogen peroxide or the hydrogen peroxode-air mixture being catalytically decomposed in order to release HO radicals from the hydrogen peroxide, which act on the hydrogen peroxide-air mixture within the catalyst in order to exert their bacterial action on the air flow, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, while forming new HO radicals, to react repeatedly with the hydrogen peroxide-air mixture in the form of chain reactions to release new HO radicals.

Hydrogen peroxide has been known and as a nearly unmeasurable rate of decomposition at room temerature, so that hydrogen peroxide can be considered to be partially stable. The strong inhibition of the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide is based essentially on the fact that the first step of the thermolysis of hydrogen peroxide consists os a splitting of the molecule into two HO radicals, which involves the consumption of a large amount of energy.

If the thermal energy is allowed to act on hydrogen peroxide, HO radicals can be released according to the equation

These HO radicals trigger a chain reaction corresponding to the equations

As a result of which HO radicals are repeatedly formed.

The rate of decompression can be increased very greatly by using a catalyst, advantageously a catalyst provided with platinum metal or with metal oxide, or a catalyst having substances with a rough surface as the active ingredient, so that the decompression process can take place already at room temperature.

Using the process according to the present invention and utilizing the acceleration of decomposition process of hydrogen peroxide by a catalyst, an air flow enriched with hydrogen peroxide can be guided into a catalyst. The hydrogen peroxide decomposes in the range of action of the catalyst, while HO radicals are formed, into water and oxygen oxide as an intermediate, while the HO radicals exert their potent bactericidal action in the reaction zone and disinfect the air.

The clean air flow leaves the catalyst, while the hydrogen peroxide reacts into water and oxgen oxide.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claim annexed to and forming a part of disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descritpive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.