Location
Presentation- Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis Presentation (Restricted to Georgia Southern)
Faculty Mentor
Aniruddha Mitra
Faculty Mentor Email
amitra@georgiasouthern.edu
Presentation Year
2021
Start Date
26-4-2021 12:00 AM
End Date
30-4-2021 12:00 AM
Keywords
Air filters, masks, smoke, nanoparticles, filtration
Description
The main goal of this research project is to determine the effectiveness of commercially available air filters and to compare different kinds of commercially available air filters in certain categories. With recent record-breaking wildfires and the Covid-19 pandemic, research on the effects and features of nanoparticles has become increasingly important. Inhalation of nanoparticles in smoke can result in severe health effects on humans, affecting especially the respiratory system. As nanoparticles can pass through cell membranes, absorption occurs rapidly and affects many different parts and functions of the human body. While air filters are an effective method of reducing small-sized particles in flowing air, current filtration standards only apply to larger scaled microparticles, and filtration efficiencies for nanoparticles are often unknown.
A good understanding of the effectiveness of air filters and masks is crucial to prevent inhalation of nanoparticles. Using a wind tunnel and two different types of woodsmokes, the penetration rates of nanoparticles through air filters were determined. Tests were performed with four different air filters using woodsmoke from hickory and applewood pallets. Due to outliers affecting mean and standard deviation values, a JavaScript code was written to eliminate outliers from the data sets. Trials with hickory smoke provided more consistent results than with applewood smoke. Average filtration effectiveness using hickory smoke was relatively close for all air filters at around 50%. Results from applewood smoke were relatively inconsistent. Due to a wide range of data and high standard deviations, effectiveness could not be established precisely.
Academic Unit
Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing
Analysis of Data to Evaluate the Performance of Air Filters Used for Filtering Nanoscale Particles Generated by Smoke
Presentation- Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing
The main goal of this research project is to determine the effectiveness of commercially available air filters and to compare different kinds of commercially available air filters in certain categories. With recent record-breaking wildfires and the Covid-19 pandemic, research on the effects and features of nanoparticles has become increasingly important. Inhalation of nanoparticles in smoke can result in severe health effects on humans, affecting especially the respiratory system. As nanoparticles can pass through cell membranes, absorption occurs rapidly and affects many different parts and functions of the human body. While air filters are an effective method of reducing small-sized particles in flowing air, current filtration standards only apply to larger scaled microparticles, and filtration efficiencies for nanoparticles are often unknown.
A good understanding of the effectiveness of air filters and masks is crucial to prevent inhalation of nanoparticles. Using a wind tunnel and two different types of woodsmokes, the penetration rates of nanoparticles through air filters were determined. Tests were performed with four different air filters using woodsmoke from hickory and applewood pallets. Due to outliers affecting mean and standard deviation values, a JavaScript code was written to eliminate outliers from the data sets. Trials with hickory smoke provided more consistent results than with applewood smoke. Average filtration effectiveness using hickory smoke was relatively close for all air filters at around 50%. Results from applewood smoke were relatively inconsistent. Due to a wide range of data and high standard deviations, effectiveness could not be established precisely.
Comments
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