AiroCide® Photocatalytic Air Purifying Systems are manufactured and marketed
by KesAir Technologies, which is focused exclusively on applying its technology
to products and services that assist businesses, governments and consumers to
maintain healthy, pathogen free air. KesAir was formed to market its technology
and business opportunity separately from its affiliated company KES Science & Technology
(KES), a more than twenty-year old postharvest preservation products company,
which serves multiple global customers in the wholesale and retail food industry.
KES markets the AiroCide technology under the trade name, AiroCide PPT, for perishable
preservation technology.
AiroCide air purifiers provide clean and healthy air in medical healthcare and dental settings.
KES Science & Technology, Inc. (KES) has been a leading global provider and innovator
of postharvest preservation technology, products and services for more than twenty
years. During that period of time, with its 75 US distributors it has served,
leading US and global food wholesalers and retailers including current customers
Kroger, Wal-Mart, Safeway, Publix, Albertson’s, Winn-Dixie, the US Military
and several energy companies. Its global distributor network has focused primarily
on Canada, UK, Spain, China, Middle East, Thailand, and Japan until recently,
when under a new alliance, KES has extended its global reach with a new partner
and their 60 distributors.
The AiroCide air purifying technology was originally developed to help NASA grow food in space.
NASA Technology
KES’s relationship with NASA and NASA-sponsored/related organizations dates back to 1995 when company founder John Hayman, Jr. was approached by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) who had teamed up with the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), one of NASA’s Commercial Space Centers in Madison, WI. The team had had developed an ethylene reduction technology, known as an ethylene scrubber, for use in NASA’s plant growth chambers and was looking for an industry partner to market the technology in commercial applications, to increase shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables.
PCO technology is used inside the ASTROCULTURE on NASA space shuttle flights. Credit: NASA
As a result of a partnership with UW, KES licensed the titanium dioxide
coating technology from the University. The
alliance and agreement with these partners gave KES exclusive patented
commercial rights to market the unique technology: a combination of ultraviolet
light and a proprietary titanium based photocatalyst.
The technology has evolved into commercial air purifying systems and has
since been tested in a variety of additional laboratory and clinical
settings and is being developed for use in multiple applications including
medical healthcare, child care, mold management and several other commercial
and residential markets.
