Bringing the outdoors indoors
The amazing science of hydroxyls - 'Nature's detergent'

Hydroxyls are nature’s way of decontaminating our environment and are the reason our environment remains safe for life​

​Discovered by the UK’s Ministry of Defence in the early 1960s, hydroxyl radicals (originally called the ‘Open Air Factor’, often just called ‘hydroxyls’) are highly reactive molecules of oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H); their chemical formula is OH.

Hydroxyls are continually produced in abundance in the lower atmosphere and wage a constant war of attrition against contaminants such as viruses, bacteria, allergens, irritants and pollution.

When hydroxyls are created, they immediately seek out and react with contaminants in the air and on surfaces. These reactions happen within seconds and break down both tiny structures, such as viruses and bacteria, and larger molecules, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), so well that hydroxyls are often called 'Nature’s Detergent' or 'The Detergent of the Atmosphere' a  term coined by Nobel Prize winning chemist Paul J. Crutzen. ​

But nature’s detergent is mostly absent from indoor air and however hard and often you clean, bacteria and viruses constantly build up in the air and on surfaces, allergens remain active and smells stay smelly.

Hydroxyls are why we are unlikely to catch infections outdoors and what gives ‘fresh air’ that clean and refreshing feel that we all love!

Atmospheric creation of hydroxyls

Hydroxyls are naturally created by interactions between ​sunlight, water, and plants

​​Hydroxyls are created in the atmosphere both as part of the continual breakdown of aromatic oils secreted into the air by plants everywhere and, during daylight hours, by the photochemical reaction which occurs in the atmosphere where different wavelengths of light interact with water and other chemicals.

​There are, on average, more than two million hydroxyls in each cubic centimeter of outdoor air during daylight hours and their estimated global concentration, higher around the tropics, is shown opposite - red higher, blue lower.

​Airora’s advanced technology recreates what happens outdoors indoors, gently blowing a mix of those natural outdoor atmospheric components that are typically missing from indoor air, such as trace amounts of oils extracted from plants and flowers, into the room.

​As happens outdoors, this mix spreads in seconds throughout the entire space, and into every corner, independent of air movement, by what scientists call 'molecular diffusion'. The mix continuously inter-reacts to create a natural ‘Hydroxyl Cascade’ throughout the room, destroying both air and surface borne pollutants on contact while simultaneously reducing any excess ozone in the room.

The atmospheric cleansing and sanitising cycle

Hydroxyls power the Earth’s atmospheric cleansing and sanitising cycle and keep our atmosphere clean and liveable

Hydroxyls:

• Destroy, on contact, all airborne human pathogens, both bacteria and viruses. 
• Chemically and / or physically alter the surfaces of allergens, such as pollens, mould spores, dust mite excretions, pet dander and cat saliva, so that they no longer cause allergic reactions.
• Break down all polluting gasses susceptible to oxidation, including those problematic for humans, such as ammonia, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde – removing them from the atmosphere.
• React with VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) in less than 100 milliseconds;  initiating a series of chain reactions that decompose VOCs and their by-products, keeping air safe to breathe. ​
• Oxidise all long chain organic odours in seconds and, over a longer time scale, short chain and inorganic odours as well.
• Vapourise carbon based ultra-fine particulates to carbon dioxide.

​Hydroxyls attack harmful contaminants, but not us! 

Humans, animals, and plants have evolved over millennia to co-exist with hydroxyls and their reaction by-products. ​Atmospheric hydroxyls cannot enter the blood stream or tissues within the body, because skin and mucosal membranes have evolved to provide a protective barrier.

Next - Imagined by NASA, Delivered by Airora >

Simply put, Airora is the future of clean, safe indoor air

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