Copenhagen Airport is to construct a research facility to establish to benefits of air filtration on passengers and staff.
CPH Air Lab is housed in a container equipped with a large ventilation duct, a test chamber and advanced sensors that detect and measure particles.
Over the coming months, five different technologies will be tested. What they have in common is their ability to capture particles, whether by trapping them in mechanical filters, attracting them to electrically charged surfaces, or binding them to biological materials such as moss.
“Everything we are testing has originally been developed for other industries. That is why CPH Air Lab is so important. It gives us the opportunity to evaluate these filtration technologies using aircraft exhaust emissions in a fully operational airport environment,” says Alexandra Halberg Hüneburg-Møller, Project Manager in Copenhagen Airport’s innovation team.
The technologies that perform best in the container-based trials will qualify for further testing next year. This will involve larger-scale applications, such as integration into the airport’s blast fences, which shield surrounding areas from the powerful airflow generated by aircraft engines.
“If the technologies also prove effective in open-air conditions, the potential for further development could be significant. One could imagine blast fences functioning as air purification systems, or filtration technologies becoming integrated into building façades,” says Alexandra Halberg Hüneburg-Møller.
CPH Air Lab forms part of ASAP (Accelerate Sustainable Aviation Programme), a joint initiative between Copenhagen Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
