Removal of SARS-CoV-2 using UV+Filter in built environment

Zhuangbo Feng; Shi-Jie Cao; Fariborz Haghighat

doi:10.1016/j.scs.2021.103226

Removal of SARS-CoV-2 using UV+Filter in built environment

Sustain Cities Soc. 2021 Nov:74:103226. doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103226. Epub 2021 Aug 3.

Authors

Zhuangbo Feng¹, Shi-Jie Cao^{1

2}, Fariborz Haghighat³

Affiliations

¹ School of Architecture, Southeast University, 2 Sipailou, Nanjing, 210096, China.
² Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

Abstract

Air cleaning is an effective and reliable method in indoor airborne SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona-Virus 2) control, with ability of aerosol removal or disinfection. However, traditional air cleaning systems (e.g. fibrous filter, electrostatic removal system) have some risks in operation process, including re-aerosolization and electric breakdown. To avoid these risks, the current study proposed an UV+Filter (ultraviolet and fibrous pleated filter) system to efficiently capture airborne SARS-CoV-2 aerosols and deactivate them in filter medium. It is challenging to quantitatively design UV+Filter due to complex characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 aerosols (e.g. aerodynamic size, biological susceptibility) and hybrid filtration/disinfection processes. This study numerically investigated the overall performances of different air cleaning devices (e.g. Fibrous-filter, UV+Filter, two-stage ESP (electrostatic precipitator) et al.) for control of SARS-CoV-2 aerosols and compared them in term of filtration efficiency, energy consumption and secondary pollution. The prediction of developed models was validated with the experimental data from literature. UV+Filter is the most reliable and safest, while its energy consumption is highest. The newly proposed design method of air cleaning systems could provide essential tools for airborne diseases control.

Keywords: Air filter; Airborne disease prevention; COVID-19 control; Energy saving; SARS-CoV-2; UV.