Alen CEO: Air purifiers ready to serve a million Chinese

Warburg Lee, CEO of Alen Corporation. [Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Waiting for the wind to blow isn't the only answer for smog these days with more Chinese consumers turning to purifiers for clean air.

The high demand for air purifiers has created a competitive market, with as many as 300 brands now available in China. Into this battle for market share, a US-based company - the Alen Corporation - has made its debut.

Alen designed its latest air purifier model to solve the problems associated with chronic air pollution in China. The company's latest model, the Alen BreatheSmart F750 VOC, will be on sale this month.

"Alen air purifiers are designed specifically to solve the toughest Chinese air quality issues" said Warburg Lee, CEO of Alen Corporation, adding that the air pollution is "obvious" when you look outside but you can also feel it in your throat after only a few days of exposure.

China and India have the world's highest average exposure to PM 2.5, according to the 2014 Environmental Performance Index, which is jointly compiled by Yale and Columbia universities.

PM2.5 - particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 micrometers - can go deep into the lungs and is extremely harmful to people's health, according to the environment watchdog.

New national standard

With rising awareness of healthy living, purchases of domestic appliances that can improve air quality has leveraged a large share of China's market.

But current standards on indoor air cleaners, enacted in 2008, don't take into consideration the need for consumers to filter PM2.5 or increased use by consumers, said Song Guangsheng, director of the National Indoor Environment and Indoor Environmental Product Quality Supervision Center.

The situation may soon change, however, because China is drafting new national standards for domestic air purifiers, industry experts said.

"We applaud a higher standard and consistent with our company values of integrity, we don't want customers to be cheated with ineffective and poorly engineered air purifiers," said Lee.

"In the US, air purifiers are generally used to address allergy, asthma, pet dander and odor issues. But to address chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde, a standard HEPA filter would not be enough because chemicals require different filtration technologies."

Lee continued. Alen's BreatheSmart F750 VOC and F700 are based on its bestselling BreatheSmart Series product line in the US. The F750 VOC product has been redesigned and further modified to tackle benzene and formaldehyde, which are primary concerns to Chinese consumers.

"The unit is specifically designed for China because air pollution is far greater here. The sensitivity level has been adjusted to not only meet the current standard but to exceed the soon-to-be introduced air purifier standard."

Lee added that the Alen BreatheSmart F750 VOC also includes Smart Sensor technology.

"Our Smart Sensor detects surrounding air quality and adjusts the fan speed accordingly in order optimize unit performance and save energy," said Lee.