초록
Activated carbon has long been used in purification processes for indoor air quality. However, the bioaerosol removal by activated carbon is not often sufficient to be used in an air control devise. In order to overcome these problems, silver nano-particles have been proposed as an antibacterial agent on the surface of activated carbon. Silver or silver ions have been known for antimicrobial activities. In this study, bioaerosol generated by using an Escherichia coli culture was introduced to a lab-scale column packed with activated carbon (AC) and silver nano-particles attached to activated carbon (Ag-AC). E. coli was almost completely removed in the Ag-AC column, whereas bioaerosol penetrated through the AC column. To determine the antibacterial effect of different filter materials in a full-scale air-handling system, another experiment was conducted using a wind tunnel equipped with a heat exchanger and three filter materials including commercial fabric, AC and Ag-AC. It was found that E. coli proliferated on the surface of the heat exchanger after 5 days, which dramatically increased bioaerosol counts in the effluent air stream. The fabric filter could not control the increased bioaerosol and most of the E. coli penetrated the filter. The bacterial removal efficiency was found to be approximately 45% in the AC filter, while the antibacterial efficiency increased to 70% using the Ag-AC filter. Consequently, the Ag-AC filter can be an effective method to control bioaerosol and improve indoor air quality.
