Filtration of bioaerosols using a granular metallic filter with micrometer-sized collectors

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2014 · Journal of Environmental Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EE.1943-7870.0000848· OSTI ID:1130419

Damit, Brian E ^[1]; Bischoff, Brian L ^[1]; Phelps, Tommy Joe ^[1]; Wu, Dr. Chang-Yu ^[2]; Cheng, Mengdawn ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. University of Florida, Gainesville

Several experimental studies with granular bed filters composed of micrometer-sized spherical or sintered metallic granules have demonstrated their use in aerosol filtration. However, the effectiveness of these metallic membrane filters against bioaerosols has not been established. In this work, the filtration efficiency and filter quality of these filters against airborne B. subtilis endospore and MS2 virus were determined as a function of face velocity and loading time. In experiments, a physical removal efficiency greater than 99.9% and a viable removal efficiency of greater than 5-log were observed for both bacterial spore and viral aerosols. A lower face velocity produced both higher collection efficiency and filter quality for virus but was not statistically significant for spore filtration. Although the filter had high filtration efficiency of the test bioaerosols, the filter's high pressure drop resulted in a low filter quality (0.25-0.75 kPa- 1). Overall, filters with micrometer-sized collectors capture bioaerosols effectively but their applications in aerosol filtration may be limited by their high pressure drop.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
• Sponsoring Organization: ORNL work for others
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1130419
• Journal Information: Journal of Environmental Engineering, Journal Name: Journal of Environmental Engineering; ISSN 0733-9372
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

aerosol
granular bed
membrane filtration
spore
virus