Cover Image

The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly infectious disease that emerged in December of 2019, threatening human health and leading to global public health crises. Airborne transmission via droplets and aerosol has been recently recognized as one of the infection modes...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Saw, Lip Huat, Leo, Bey Fen, Lin, Chin Yik, Mohd Mokhtar, Norfilza, Md Ali, Sawal Hamid, Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul
Format: Article
Published: Taiwan Assoc Aerosol Res-Taar 2022
Subjects:
RA Public aspects of medicine
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/42339/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id my.um.eprints.42339
record_format eprints
spelling my.um.eprints.423392023-11-16T08:49:26Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/42339/ The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus Saw, Lip Huat Leo, Bey Fen Lin, Chin Yik Mohd Mokhtar, Norfilza Md Ali, Sawal Hamid Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul RA Public aspects of medicine Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly infectious disease that emerged in December of 2019, threatening human health and leading to global public health crises. Airborne transmission via droplets and aerosol has been recently recognized as one of the infection modes for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Hospitals have deployed/incorporated indoor air purifiers with the hope to minimize the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the indoor air purifier in reducing the transmission risk remained unknown. This study uses computational fluid dynamics to model the dispersion of the aerosol particles exhaled from the patient under the influence of an air conditioner, exhaust fans and air purifier. The numerical model showed that airflow from the diffusers, exhaust fans and placement of the air purifier significantly influenced the dispersion pattern of the aerosol particles in the common ward. Multiple air purifiers placed at 1 meter above the floor and next to a patient can increase the total efficiency from 37.14 to 59.91% for weak exhalation and from 36.44% to 48.81% for medium exhalation. No aerosol particles flew out from the door for weak and medium exhalation when multiple air purifiers were deployed in the common ward. Location and matching the clean air delivery rate with the size of the room are the important factors that affect the performance of the air purifier. Taiwan Assoc Aerosol Res-Taar 2022-03 Article PeerReviewed Saw, Lip Huat and Leo, Bey Fen and Lin, Chin Yik and Mohd Mokhtar, Norfilza and Md Ali, Sawal Hamid and Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul (2022) The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Aerosol And Air Quality Research, 22 (3). ISSN 1680-8584, DOI https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.210213 <https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.210213>. 10.4209/aaqr.210213
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic RA Public aspects of medicine
spellingShingle RA Public aspects of medicine
Saw, Lip Huat
Leo, Bey Fen
Lin, Chin Yik
Mohd Mokhtar, Norfilza
Md Ali, Sawal Hamid
Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul
The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus
description Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly infectious disease that emerged in December of 2019, threatening human health and leading to global public health crises. Airborne transmission via droplets and aerosol has been recently recognized as one of the infection modes for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Hospitals have deployed/incorporated indoor air purifiers with the hope to minimize the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the indoor air purifier in reducing the transmission risk remained unknown. This study uses computational fluid dynamics to model the dispersion of the aerosol particles exhaled from the patient under the influence of an air conditioner, exhaust fans and air purifier. The numerical model showed that airflow from the diffusers, exhaust fans and placement of the air purifier significantly influenced the dispersion pattern of the aerosol particles in the common ward. Multiple air purifiers placed at 1 meter above the floor and next to a patient can increase the total efficiency from 37.14 to 59.91% for weak exhalation and from 36.44% to 48.81% for medium exhalation. No aerosol particles flew out from the door for weak and medium exhalation when multiple air purifiers were deployed in the common ward. Location and matching the clean air delivery rate with the size of the room are the important factors that affect the performance of the air purifier.
format Article
author Saw, Lip Huat
Leo, Bey Fen
Lin, Chin Yik
Mohd Mokhtar, Norfilza
Md Ali, Sawal Hamid
Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul
author_facet Saw, Lip Huat
Leo, Bey Fen
Lin, Chin Yik
Mohd Mokhtar, Norfilza
Md Ali, Sawal Hamid
Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul
author_sort Saw, Lip Huat
title The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus
title_short The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus
title_full The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus
title_fullStr The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus
title_full_unstemmed The myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 virus
title_sort myth of air purifier in mitigating the transmission risk of sars-cov-2 virus
publisher Taiwan Assoc Aerosol Res-Taar
publishDate 2022
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/42339/
_version_ 1783876739369271296
score 13.211869

Similar Items