Excessive carbon dioxide (CO2), a by-product of natural gas exchange, can have harmful health effects, giving us headaches and making us feel like we’re not at our sharpest. When considering which methods are the best to reduce CO2 levels, a simple question arises: can air purifiers remove CO2?

Read more: The Dangers of High Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Levels

Air Purifiers Don’t Remove CO2

Unfortunately common air filters do not remove CO2 from the air. Most air purifiers use HEPA filters and activated carbon filters. HEPA filters remove particles. Activated carbon filters remove some gas pollutants. But nothing in common air purifiers will remove CO2 from your home.

How Submarines Get Rid of CO2

Things get a bit different if you own a submarine. Deep underwater, people NEED to get rid of carbon dioxide, or they’ll die. So they use sophisticated CO2 scrubbers.

Spaceships also need CO2 scrubbers. Here’s the scrubber from the Apollo 13 mission:

So how do they do it? Some scrubber systems use soda lime to capture CO2.

Others use zeolite, which is made of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen.

But home-use air purifiers don’t use these. I saw one purifier company claiming its air purifier uses “submarine technology” to scrub CO2 from the air, but I suspect this was a marketing gimmick.

It would have to be quite a different air purifier to remove CO2. Since then, they erased this claim from their website.

So What to Do About CO2?

Our homes aren’t as dangerous as submarines. You won’t die from CO2 at home. But people do get concerned about it because CO2 can make people drowsy and perform worse at their jobs. Fortunately, the solution is easy: open a window!

If outdoor air is polluted, opening a window can be a problem because it’ll let in outdoor air pollution. But tests from my nerd team at Smart Air found that air purifiers can still effectively remove air pollution if a window is open. So if you live in a polluted city, you can vent your CO2 and reduce air pollution, as long as you have a strong air purifier.

Important! Measure indoor CO2 using a low-cost monitor!

Read More: Best Portable CO2 Monitors for Home and Office