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Consumer Safety

Periodic Graphics

Periodic Graphics: The chemistry of airplane air

Chemical educator and Compound Interest blogger Andy Brunning presents a fresh look at the chemical processes that keep the air in airliner cabins ready to breathe.

by Andy Brunning, special to C&EN
August 22, 2024 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 102, Issue 26
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Most Popular in Safety

 

Infographic on the chemistry that cleans the air you breathe on a plane, as well as the reactions that produce oxygen in an emergency.
Airliners pressurize their onboard air to make flights more comfortable. In the cabin, the air pressure is 75.1 kPa, compared with 101 kPa at sea level. Cabin air is a mix of fresh air from outside and filtered inside air and is renewed up to 30 times an hour. High-efficiency particulate air filters remove bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
Airplanes cruise in the lower stratosphere, where the ozone concentration is slightly higher than at ground level. This can lead to increased ozone levels in the aircraft’s cabin, which can cause headaches and breathing problems. Ozone can also react with compounds in skin oils to form irritant aldehydes. Many planes use devices to convert ozone in air into oxygen before it enters the cabin. They also reduce cabin odors.
A chemical system produces the oxygen provided by masks that drop from an airplane’s ceiling during an emergency. Pulling the mask down releases a firing pin from the oxygen generator cylinder. This release ignites a mixture of an oxidizer (commonly sodium chlorate) and iron powder. The heat from burning iron decomposes the oxidizer, a process that produces oxygen. The generator produces oxygen for 15–20 min, long enough for the plane to descend to an altitude at which ambient air is breathable.
Credit: Andy Brunning

Test your knowledge of airplane air with our quiz

To download a pdf of this article, visit cenm.ag/planeair.

References used to create this graphic:

American Chemical Society. “When a Good Relationship Turns Toxic: Ozone on Airplanes.” Accessed Aug. 19, 2024.

National Research Council (US) Committee on Air Quality in Passenger Cabins of Commercial Aircraft. “Environmental Control.” In The Airliner Cabin Environment and the Health of Passengers and Crew. National Academies Press, 2002.

Notman, Nina. “The Breath of Life.” Education in Chemistry, Oct. 24, 2022.

Weisel, Clifford, Charles J. Weschler, Kris Mohan, Jose Vallarino, and John D. Spengler. “Ozone and Ozone Byproducts in the Cabins of Commercial Aircraft.” Environ. Sci. Technol. (2013). DOI: 10.1021/es3046795.

A collaboration between C&EN and Andy Brunning, author of the popular graphics blog Compound Interest

To see more of Brunning’s work, go to compoundchem.com. To see all of C&EN’s Periodic Graphics, visit http://cenm.ag/periodicgraphics.

CORRECTION

This graphic was updated on Sept. 24, 2024, to correct an unbalanced equation in the bottom-right panel. It should be 2NaClO3 --> 2NaCl + 3O2, not 2NaClO3 --> NaCl + 3O2.

 

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society

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