Efficient use of adsorbents for indoor air scrubbing

A system for controlling a scrubber, the system comprising:

• a scrubber containing an adsorbent, the scrubber configured to cycle between scrubbing at least one pollutant and/or first gas from a stream of gases with the at least one pollutant and/or first gas being adsorbed onto the adsorbent, and purging the at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent via a regeneration gas flow;
• means for flowing the stream of gases through the scrubber and over and/or through the adsorbent, wherein the adsorbent adsorbs at least one pollutant and/or first gas from the stream of gases during an adsorption phase over a first time period;
• means for flowing the regeneration gas flow over the adsorbent for purging a portion of the pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during a regeneration phase over a second time period with a regeneration gas flow, and
• means for cycling between the adsorption phase and the regeneration phase,
• wherein:
• one cycle comprises one adsorption phase followed by one regeneration phase,
• one cycle period comprises the total time elapsed during one cycle;
• the pollutant and/or first gas purged from the adsorbent is carried away by the regeneration gas flow,
• a complete regeneration phase comprises a time period for removing substantially all of the pollutant and/or first gas from the adsorbent during the regeneration phase,
• a complete adsorption phase comprises a time period for substantially saturating all the adsorbant during the adsorption,
• the duration of at least one of the following is limited:
• the duration of the first time to a period of time Ta which is less than the complete adsorption phase, and
• the duration of the second time period of time Tr which is less than the complete regeneration phase, and
• productivity of the scrubber is optimized as a function of at least one of Ta and Tr, with productivity comprising an amount of the at least one pollutant and/or first gas removed over the one cycle period, wherein the means for cycling comprises a processor and a non-transitory machine-readable medium having computer instructions operating thereon for controlling cycling between the adsorption and regeneration phases.