Cleaning Indoor Air During Wildfires: A Push for Innovative Solutions

Published April 30, 2024

Wildfire smoke contains many pollutants that can harm public health, including particulate matter. Particulate matter is hazardous to the heart and lungs, especially for vulnerable populations including people with existing health conditions such as asthma or cardiovascular disease.

When wildfires result in unhealthy air quality, EPA recommends staying indoors in a “clean room,” which means a room with closed windows and filtered air. However, finding a clean room can sometimes be difficult. Air cleaning technologies for indoor air can be expensive and often require electrical power that can be unreliable during wildfire events.

To address the current limitations of air cleaning technologies, EPA led a coordinated effort with federal, state, Tribal, local, and small business partners to invest in the development of innovative technologies that clean indoor air during wildfires and days when particulate matter levels are high.

“At EPA, we empower visionaries to turn their ideas into tangible solutions that benefit society,” Bryan Hubbell, national program director of EPA’s Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program, said. “Through initiatives like the Cleaner Indoor Air During Wildfires Challenge and EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, we champion innovation as a catalyst for creating technologies that protect public health as climate change increases exposures to wildfire smoke.”

Cleaner Indoor Air During Wildfires Challenge

In 2021, EPA launched the Cleaner Indoor Air During Wildfires Challenge, which challenged the public to propose new approaches for keeping indoor air as clean as possible on high-pollution days. The Challenge was divided into two phases. The first phase focused on the theoretical design of a technology. Five winners and three honorable mentions were selected for awards.  

Winners and honorable mentions from Phase 1 were invited to submit prototypes of their designs for testing and consideration in the challenge’s second phase. EPA scientists tested these prototypes to determine the Phase 2 winners, who each received a prize of $50,000.

In 2024, EPA announced the winners of Phase 2. Read about them below.

• Researchers from Portland State University developed “The Cocoon,” a do-it-yourself air cleaner that consists of a tube-shaped household fabric filter combined with a box fan. The Cocoon is both a low-cost solution (approximately $49) and a simple design comprised of common materials. In emergency smoke conditions when indoor air becomes unhealthy with short notice, a cheap and accessible solution like the Cocoon has the potential for widespread use.

  

• Metalmark Innovations, PBC, created a prototype that uses a unique, self-cleaning filter to capture smoke particles. The prototype has a long-estimated lifetime, low maintenance requirements, and low waste output. Most importantly, it breaks down pollutants after it removes them from the air, which cleans the filter and extends the product’s useful life. This prototype could decrease how often people need to purchase costly replacements for their air-cleaning filters.

Small Business Innovation Research

In 2023, concurrent to Phase 2 of the challenge, EPA released a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitation to provide seed funding to small businesses to develop and commercialize indoor air cleaning technologies. Winners of the SBIR award could receive up to $100,000 for “proof of concept” of their idea and would then be eligible to apply for an additional $400,000 to further develop and commercialize their technology.

EPA awarded SBIR seed funding to two small businesses to develop and commercialize their air cleaning technologies.

The winners and their technologies are described below.

• DiPole Materials, Inc., are using their SBIR award to develop an innovative biodegradable filter. DiPole will develop a new filter material that aims to reduce particulate matter levels in an indoor environment by 95% and will degrade almost completely two months after the filter is disposed. This filter could help to protect people from smoke during wildfires and other high-particulate matter events while avoiding the waste that traditional filtering systems produce. Currently, Dipole’s prototype is being designed for use in commercial heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, but they plan to develop designs that can attach to box fans and window screens, making the benefits of their design even more accessible.

  

• Metalmark Innovations, PBC, one of the winners of the Cleaner Indoor Air During Wildfires Challenge, also received an SBIR award for their proposal to develop a new nanostructured coating on their HVAC filter media to improve the efficiency of removing particulate matter from wildfire smoke. These improved filters could then be incorporated into Metalmark’s commercially available products. Metalmark’s awards from both the Challenge and the SBIR program highlight how EPA is supporting promising innovations throughout the entire development process.

Innovation is essential to solving complex environmental problems such as wildfire smoke. With programs that foster the design, development, and commercialization of new technologies, EPA is committed to ensuring that good ideas can be translated into products that protect human health and the environment.

This story was written by Seamus Caslin and Paul Raeder, Oak Ridge Associated Universities contractors working with the Innovation team in EPA’s Office of Research and Development. The team oversees EPA’s challenges and prizes and SBIR programs.