Evaluation of the Bioaerosol Inactivation Ability of Chitosan-Coated Antimicrobial Filters.

Ying-Fang Hsu,Shinhao Yang,Chi-Yu Chuang

doi:10.3390/ijerph18137183

Abstract

This work considers the enhancement of indoor bioaerosol removal efficiency by liquid coating of the antimicrobial agent chitosan onto polypropylene fibrous filters (CCFs). Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) were chosen as the tested bioaerosols. The results revealed that 2.5% (w/w) of CCFs have significantly higher bioaerosol survival capability (23% and 34% of E. coli and B. subtilis, respectively), compared to an untreated filter (65% and 64% for E. coli and B. subtilis, respectively). Increasing face velocity and relative humidity during operating CCFs could reduce the bioaerosol removal capability. The regression analysis of the experimental findings demonstrated that the higher coating concentration of chitosan had the most positive influence on bioaerosol removal, while the face velocity and relative humidity had a negative influence, but a milder effect was observed (R2 = 0.83 and 0.81 for E. coli and B. subtilis bioaerosols, respectively). A CCF-loaded air-cleaning device was tested in a real indoor environment and resulted in 80.1% bioaerosol removal within 3 h of operating, which suggests that the chitosan-coated filter has the potential for further application in improving indoor air quality in the future.

Highlights

Introduction and Atin AdhikariThe investigation displayed that modern people spend an average of 87.2% of their time indoors
Li and Wang [4] investigated the inactivating ability of the ozone on bioaerosols. Their results demonstrated that when the ozone concentration was increased to 10 ppm, the germicidal efficiency toward the bacteria and the fungi bioaerosols began to become obvious
They found that the effect of photocatalytic oxidation on bioaerosol removal was weak

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and Atin AdhikariThe investigation displayed that modern people spend an average of 87.2% of their time indoors. Many air-cleaning techniques, including ozone releasing, photocatalytic oxidation, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, plasma neutralization, and disinfectant spraying, have been developed for inactivating indoor airborne microbial contamination. Li and Wang [4] investigated the inactivating ability of the ozone on bioaerosols. Their results demonstrated that when the ozone concentration was increased to 10 ppm, the germicidal efficiency toward the bacteria and the fungi bioaerosols began to become obvious. Lin and Li [5] examined the effectiveness of titanium dioxide photocatalyst filters under a wavelength of 365 nm ultraviolet light in controlling bioaerosols. They found that the effect of photocatalytic oxidation on bioaerosol removal was weak.

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