Samsung develops reusable air filter that can be used for up to 20 years

Tech

Published: 16 Feb. 2023, 16:47

Samsung develops reusable air filter that can be used for up to 20 years

Researchers at Samsung Electronics' Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology research center [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics’ research center developed a reusable air filter that can be used for up to 20 years without replacement, the company said Thursday.

The technology is the first of its kind in the world, according to Samsung Electronics.

The latest filter technology for air purifiers developed by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) enables air filters to be reused for decades with only water cleansing needed occasionally.

Previous air filters needed to be replaced once or twice a year.

SAIT’s air filters can also be used to filter both fine dust and volatile organic compounds, whereas previous air purifiers needed two separate filters for each purpose.

SAIT researchers used a porous ceramic wall to filter fine particles in the inlet channel and incorporated photocatalysts, which react to light, such as copper oxide and titanium dioxide on the outlet channel to remove harmful volatile organic compounds.

Structure of Samsung Electronics' latest air filter [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung expects the technology to reduce the size of an air purifier device while also improving performance, as the newly developed filter will have a dust loading capacity of 20 grams per liter, compared to the current 5 grams.

Samsung Electronics plans to produce prototypes of the newly-developed air conditioning systems and deploy them in office buildings, bus terminals and underground parking lots at its semiconductor plants for performance tests.

SAIT’s research results were published in Nature Communications journal on Wednesday.

“This project started from listening to suggestions from manufacturers and users of air purification filters,” said Kwon Jae-hyuk, a SAIT researcher.

“We plan to expand the research into accelerating the commercialization of long-lifetime filters in the future.”

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]