Wind tunnel-based testing of a photoelectrochemical oxidative filter-based air purification unit in coronavirus and influenza aerosol removal and inactivation.
Indoor Air
; 31(6): 2058-2069, 2021 Nov.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1222522
ABSTRACT
Recirculating air purification technologies are employed as potential means of reducing exposure to aerosol particles and airborne viruses. Toward improved testing of recirculating air purification units, we developed and applied a medium-scale single-pass wind tunnel test to examine the size-dependent collection of particles and the collection and inactivation of viable bovine coronavirus (BCoV, a betacoronavirus), porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV, an alphacoronavirus), and influenza A virus (IAV), by a commercial air purification unit. The tested unit, the Molekule Air Mini, incorporates a MERV 16 filter as well as a photoelectrochemical oxidating layer. It was found to have a collection efficiency above 95.8% for all tested particle diameters and flow rates, with collection efficiencies above 99% for supermicrometer particles with the minimum collection efficiency for particles smaller than 100 nm. For all three tested viruses, the physical tracer-based log reduction was near 2.0 (99% removal). Conversely, the viable virus log reductions were found to be near 4.0 for IAV, 3.0 for BCoV, and 2.5 for PRCV, suggesting additional inactivation in a virus family- and genus-specific manner. In total, this work describes a suite of test methods which can be used to rigorously evaluate the efficacy of recirculating air purification technologies.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Orthomyxoviridae
/
Air Pollution, Indoor
/
Coronavirus
/
Air Filters
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
Language:
English
Journal:
Indoor Air
Journal subject:
Environmental Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ina.12847
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS