McIlvaine Coronavirus Market Ale

Air Techniques International (ATI), a leader in the design and manufacture of specialized testing equipment for HEPA filters, media, filter cartridges, respirators, and protective masks, announced the addition of European Standard EN 13274-7:2019 for Paraffin Oil to its 100X Automated Filter Tester lineup. The 100X automated filter tester with full EN13274-7:2019 compliance has already been delivered to leading filter manufacturers from ATI’s global Headquarters in Owings Mills, MD, USA.

EN 13274-7:2019 supersedes the previous standard (EN 13274-7:2008) and acts as the test method to determine particle filter penetration for respiratory protective devices. EN 13274-7 standard is the test method called by EN 149 for the testing of filtering half masks to protect against particles (FFP1, FFP2 & FFP3 masks) which are in high demand during the current global Covid-19 pandemic.

EN 13274-7:2019 complements the existing set of global standards that the 100X meets. “Our customers expressed strong interest in test equipment that is fully compliant with the new standard. We quickly developed a version of the 100X that precisely meets the aerosol concentration and particle size distribution required by the standard, and we have ramped up production to ship within 6-8 weeks to meet strong customer demand” said Gautam Patel, Global Product Manager.

Service and support for 100X customers using the new standard is managed through ATI’s Owings Mills, MD Headquarters and its UK facility. Also, ATI’s global network of Distribution partners and Service Centers are ready to respond when service is needed.

In addition to EN 13274-7:2019, the 100X Automated Filter Tester product range meets other major industry standards, such as NIOSH 42 CFR Part 84, GB 2626, ISO 23328, JICOSH/JMOL, and more. The 100X Automated Filter Tester is used worldwide in production, quality control, and R&D applications to test and validate filter media, cartridges, and respirators. To view a short video and learn more about the 100X, https://www.atitest.com/products/100x-automated-filter-tester/

The ATI Polaron F10+ provides real-time detection of airborne biological threats and other aerosolized anomalies. It rapidly and reliably detects all four classes of biological agents (spores, toxins, viruses, and bacteria) at low concentrations, with low false-alarm rates. By combining state-of-the-art patented polarized elastic light scattering and laser-induced fluorescence, the Polaron can detect small particles with weak fluorescence properties, down to 0.5 micron sensitivity, while rejecting commonly occurring non-biologic fluorescing material that can cause false alarms in legacy detectors.

Polaron monitors air continuously and provides early-warning alarms of potential aerosol threats. It transmits information as a first-tier “trigger” in a networked system for a variety of applications:

· Building protection

· Mass-transit security

· Special-event monitoring

· Force and base protection

We have initiated a system to track filter and mask production. This will include media and machines as well as finished filters. We have started to make entries as shown below. The continually updated version will be linked to the website along with the searches by key words and headlines

Some entries to the system will not be covered with articles in the Alert. Here are three of them today

Germany is focusing on increasing outside air ventilation of facilities. The question is whether this is being done with the knowledge of the importance of air flow direction. Outside ventilation is only valuable to the degree it reduces virus load in the breathing zone of people. For example if the load is higher but it is near the floor and not in the breathing zone the risk is lower than if most of this virus is redirected to the breathing zone even as it is eventually discharged outside.

Ventilating rooms has been added to the German government’s formula for tackling coronavirus, in refreshing news for the country’s air hygiene experts who have been calling for it to become official for months.

The custom is something of a national obsession, with many Germans habitually opening windows twice a day, even in winter. Often the requirement is included as a legally binding clause in rental agreements, mainly to protect against mold and bad smells.

But while some people may dismiss the method as primitive, “it may be one of the cheapest and most effective ways” of containing the spread of the virus, Angela Merkel insisted on Tuesday.

The German chancellor explained that the government’s guidelines to tackle the virus, encapsulated in the acronym AHA, which stands for distancing, hygiene and face coverings, will be extended to become AHACL. The “C” stands for the government’s coronavirus warning app, and “L” for Lüften or airing a room.

“Regular impact ventilation in all private and public rooms can considerably reduce the danger of infection,” the government’s recommendation explains.

Impact ventilation, or Stosslüften, which needs explanation for most people unfamiliar with Germany except for experts in air hygiene, involves widely opening a window in the morning and evening for at least five minutes to allow the air to circulate. Even more efficient is Querlüften, or cross ventilation, whereby all the windows in a house or apartment are opened letting stale air flow out and fresh air come in.

In Germany, windows are designed with sophisticated hinge technology that allows them to be opened in various directions to enable varying degrees of Lüften.

Since it has become known that 90% of Covid-19 patients pick up the virus indoors, the practice has come into its own. With winter on the doorstep, it will become even more important, experts insist.

The country’s leading coronavirus expert, Christian Drosten, who is head virologist at the Charité hospital in Berlin, has already dedicated an edition of his hit pandemic podcast to the importance of Luftverdünnung and Luftbewegung – air rarefaction and movement – in which he extols the praises for frequent airing, while the weekly Die Zeit has published a 10-page feature on ventilation, including the science behind it and, especially how to do it in winter.

Even without coronavirus, Martin Kriegel, an engineer and air current analyst at the Technical University in Berlin, told Die Zeit, “there is clear evidence that air quality in offices correlates with the number of days workers are off sick”.

Schools, which have increasingly been viewed as a testing ground for how society can learn to live with the disease, have long since adopted the practice. A recent gathering of the ministers of education for Germany’s 16 states was dedicated to how to air a classroom. Five experts, from fluid mechanics to indoor air hygienists and aerodynamicists, reinforced the importance of airing a room every 15 to 20 minutes, for five minutes in spring and autumn, and three minutes in winter.

But although the custom is well-established in Germany, it is also a frequent cause of tension, which some fear is only likely to increase this winter the more people practice it. The typical grumpy German response of someone objecting to an open window, is erfroren sind schon viele, erstunken its noch keiner – many people have frozen to death, but no one has ever died from a bad smell.

Helen, a 34-year-old primary school teacher from Cologne, who did not want to give her full name, said: “A typical scenario in Germany is someone opening the window in an office or on a train, say, then the next person comes in and complains it’s draughty – that’s another German obsession – and insists on closing it. That’s also why Germans often wear scarves.”

She has been following the recommendations and airing her classroom every 20 minutes, she said. “I do enjoy regularly airing, whether in the classroom or at home, and now because of the coronavirus it seems more important than ever. Though I am concerned how I will manage with the kids in winter when it’s really cold.”

ElectrospinTech is an online knowledge and information resource center on electrospinning. It aims to facilitate the advancement in science and understanding of the process to foster greater utilization of nanofibers to create new materials and products. Information found on their platform includes upstream basic research to downstream consumer products.

High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are very important in industrial applications for keeping a designated environment free of particulate contaminants such as cleanrooms. In most countries, HEPA filters need to meet stringent requirements. United States Department of Energy (DOE) standard states that a HEPA filter needs to remove at least 99.97% of airborne particles 0.3 µm in diameter and other requirements. The European standard has different classes of HEPA with specific requirements. Electrospun filter membrane is known for its high filtration efficiency and performance which makes it potentially suitable for HEPA filter.

The basic determination of a membrane suitability in filter application is its particulate rejection according to the size of the particles and its pressure drop. Such performance is in turn determined by the material used and fiber diameter. In one of the earliest reported studies on the use of electrospun nanofibers for HEPA filter, Li et al (2006) used electrospun nylon-6 nanofibers with diameter of 120 nm coated on air filter media to test its filtration efficiency across a range of particles size. For 0.3 µm particles, a filtration efficiency of about 80% can be achieved with a basis weight of 0.5 g/m².

A good filtration efficiency is not the only requirement of HEPA filters. Pressure drop which is a measure of the resistance to airflow due to the filter membrane barrier, should be as low as possible. This is where nanofibers has an advantage. With smaller fiber profile, slip flow will be larger and this will facilitate collision of the particles to the surface of the fibers. This will also reduce pressure drop as air molecules faces less resistance when passing through the membrane.

Matulevicius et al (2014) investigated the performance of electrospun polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyamide 6/6 (PA6/6) nanofibers as air filter membrane. Between the two materials, electrospun PA6/6 fiber reached a diameter of about 60 nm while PA6 fiber diameter had a diameter of 200 nm. PA6/6 nanofibers membrane had a filtration efficiency over 90% with basis weight of 0.46g/m² while PA6 nanofibers membrane has a filtration efficiency of 88% with basis weight of 0.75g/m² for 300 nm particles. The pressure drop of PA6 nanofiber with its smaller diameter was also lower at 66.7 Pa but the PA6/6 nanofiber membrane had a pressure drop of 105 Pa. Although the materials are different, it is likely that the much smaller diameter of PA6/6 nanofiber contributed to the better filtration performance. With larger diameter fibers, it may also be possible to obtain good filtration performance. Nakata et al (2007) showed that with electrospun poly (ether sulfone) (PES) with diameter of 1 µm, they can achieve a 98% filtration rejection of 0.3 µm size particles and pressure drop of 134 Pa. The basis weight for this membrane was 30 g/m². By varying the electrospinning conditions for PES, a slightly smaller fiber diameter of 0.9 µm can be fabricated, but with smaller pore size of 3.2 µm instead of 5.6 µm gives a filtration rejection of 99.9998% but the pressure drop increases to 215 Pa.

Under certain electrospinning conditions, the electrospinning process is able to generate nanonets between nonwoven nanofibers. The nanonets are made out of random nanofibers but with much smaller fiber diameter (low tens of nanometer) and pore size (tens to hundreds of nanometer) compared to the main fiber network which typically have diameter in the hundreds of nanometer and pore size of a few microns. Zhang et al (2017) showed that such electrospun structures vastly improves the filtration efficiency and reduces the pressure drop. To produce nanofiber/nanonet structure of poly (m-phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA NF/N), Zhang et al (2017) added DTAB to the solution for electrospinning. This nanofiber/nanonet composed of nanonet with fibers of diameter of about 20 nm. With just a basis weight of 0.365 g/m², it is able to achieve a removal efficiency of 99.999% for NaCl particles (300 to 500 nm) and a low air resistance of 92 Pa. The pore size of the nanonet was found to be about 200 to 300 nm which means that it is able to physically trap particles at 300 nm or higher instead of just random surface contact adhesion.