Wind tunnel‐based testing of a photoelectrochemical oxidative filter‐based air purification unit in coronavirus and influenza aerosol removal and inactivation

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‐depend...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indoor Air 2021-11, Vol.31 (6), p.2058-2069
Main Authors: Qiao, Yuechen, Yang, My, Marabella, Ian A., McGee, Devin A.J., Olson, Bernard A., Torremorell, Montserrat, Hogan, Christopher J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosols
Air Filters
Air Microbiology
Air Pollution, Indoor - analysis
Air purification
air purifier
Collection
coronavirus
Coronavirus - isolation & purification
Coronaviruses
Deactivation
filtration
Filtration - instrumentation
Flow velocity
Inactivation
Influenza
Original
Orthomyxoviridae - isolation & purification
Oxidative Stress
Particle Size
photoelectrochemical oxidation
virus aerosols
Viruses
wind tunnel test
Wind tunnel testing
Wind tunnels
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0905-6947
1600-0668
DOI:10.1111/ina.12847