Efficacy of Photocatalytic HEPA Filter on Reducing Bacteria and Fungi Spores in the Presence of UVC and UVA Lights

Abstract

The Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) of a hospital is very important to properly protect both patients and the staff against hospital infections. The present study aims at evaluating the efficiency of photocatalytic filters as well as the impact of important factors such as the type of UV wavelength (UVC, UVA) with different intensities and loading rates of TiO2 in HEPA Filters on reducing airborne microorganisms. For so doing, it has prepared photocatalytic filters by dipping them into 2% and 4% titanium dioxide suspensions as low and high loading, respectively. The experiments have been carried out on four species’ microorganisms, namely Epidermidis, Subtilis, Niger, and Penicillium. Fungi and bacteria suspensions have been prepared with concentrations of 106, 107 CFU/m3, respectively. In terms of microorganism removal, the efficiency of HEPA filters in both types of TiO2 loading and UVC and UVA radiations with two intensities at three times intervals (60, 90, and 120 min) have been investigated. Results show that lower penetration microorganism belong to PCO (TiO2 + UV), compared to photolysis (UV alone) at all intervals of UV radiation. TiO2 loading has no significant effect on percentage removal in all microorganisms. The percentage penetration of microorganisms under UVC radiation is lower than UVA radiation. Also, increasing the radiation intensity in both types of UV shows that it has higher effectiveness for removing bacteria and fungi. Therefore, the use of photocatalytic HEPA filters with UVC radiation can play an influential role in reduction of the microorganisms in different places such as hospitals, cleanrooms, etc.