AQS Partners With Alcoa to Reduce Air Pollution

Engineering lab offers verification services and technical expertise in evaluating the aluminum manufacturer’s “smog eating” architectural panel technology that is aimed at reducing air pollution.

Air Quality Sciences, Inc. (AQS; Atlanta, GA), a member of the Underwriters Laboratories® Global Network, is involved in providing technical assistance for Alcoa’s recently introduced air cleansing architectural panels, Reynobond® with EcoClean™. AQS, North America’s leading product emissions testing laboratory and claim verification services provider, teamed with Alcoa to evaluate the efficacy of the panels in neutralizing nitrogen oxide air pollutants (NOx).

Using a specialized test chamber equipped with simulated sunlight, the architectural panels were challenged with an atmosphere containing gaseous nitrogen oxides. The reduction or neutralization of nitrogen oxides was measured with sensitive analytical methodologies, which verified and proved the product’s performance. “With such new breakthrough technology, independent testing was important. AQS was able to confirm the NOx removal test method and measure the product’s removal rates, both critical pieces to the validation process,” says Craig Belnap, the president of Alcoa Architectural Products.

Reynobond® with EcoClean™ panels feature a titanium dioxide coating which reacts with UV light to break down air pollutants on or near its coating. Then, the panel’s super hydrophilic surface allows rainwater to sheet off evenly, instead of beading on the surface. Belnap adds, “Once the pollutant has degraded, that organic matter just sits on the surface of the panel, ready to be washed away. The system means lower maintenance costs for owners and a consistently cleaner image for the building over time.”

AQS specializes in product development testing for manufacturers and is often called upon to develop unique test protocols, like measuring the efficacy of product use, or evaluating a product’s human health impact. “Our long history of leading and managing custom projects made us perfectly suited to partner with Alcoa during the development of a high performance, high-tech product,” explains AQS president Marilyn Black, PhD. The firm is uniquely positioned to assist manufacturers in testing various products and complex processes, and determine their affect on air quality.

More than 90 sophisticated environmental chambers, ranging from small to room-sized, are equipped with temperature, humidity, and air flow control in AQS’s state-of-the-art facility. Specialized chambers with “glove box” door interfaces and consumer room spaces can generate airborne loads of chemicals, particles and allergens, often used in interactive studies for wet product application, or removal efficiency testing, as seen with Alcoa’s architectural panel project.

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