Aspen Products Group, Inc. (APG) announced today the award of a U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract to develop an advanced kitchen exhaust filter. The EPA and a number of States are studying air pollution from commercial cooking sources, with an eye on possible future kitchen exhaust emission control standards. EPA studies show that commercial cooking contributes about 1% of the fine particulates (PM 2.5) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in the national emissions inventory.

Under the current contract, APG will develop a catalytic filtration system capable of fine particulate and HAP trapping and oxidation. Advanced microfiber catalyst technology developed by APG enables filtering of fine particulates and volatile organic compounds without significantly impeding exhaust flow. The trapped pollutants are catalytically oxidized at low temperature, yielding an exhaust stream that is free of particulates and odors.

Combining filtration and catalytic oxidation elements within a single exhaust clean up device provides many advantages over conventional filter systems. The proposed filter is anticipated to provide higher particulate filtration efficiency and better ventilation system performance in a simpler, lower-cost exhaust clean up system, with reduced maintenance requirements and no secondary waste streams. The catalytic oxidation process is autonomously controlled at a low oxidation temperature. This provides a safe process with no user interface decisions; when the vent fan is on, the exhaust filter system is on and functioning.

The project will initially focus on the synthesis and characterization of the proposed microfibrous filters with the feasibility of the exhaust clean up approach verified in a subscale demonstration. In a follow-on effort the program will scale up the filtration hardware and demonstrate operation in a commercial kitchen ventilation system.