Researchers at the University of Houston have developed an air filter that can trap and kill the novel coronavirus instantly.
The air filter, made of nickel foam, was designed by the Director of Texas Center of Superconductivity Dr Zhifeng Ren in collaboration with Medistar CEO Monzer Hourani. It is built with commercially available nickel foam, which is heated at 392 degrees Fahrenheit.
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The original concept was the brainchild of Hourani, who heads medical real estate development company Medistar. Medistar had approached the Texas Center for Superconductivity to help develop the virus-trapping air filter on March 31, at a time the pandemic had already started spreading rapidly across countries.
Later, tests were conducted at the Galveston National Laboratory, to find out the efficacy of the heated air filter. Researchers found that 99.8 percent COVID-19 causing novel coronavirus were killed instantly as it passed through the filter, reported the Houston Chronicle.
Commenting on the discovery, Ren said: “This filter could be useful in airports and in airplanes, in office buildings, schools and cruise ships to stop the spread of COVID-19. Its ability to help control the spread of the virus could be useful for society.”
Medistar has plans to develop a desktop model that will be able to purify the air in an office goers’ immediate surroundings.
Dr Garrett Peel of Medistar has suggested a phased roll-out of the heated air filter, handing it out to schools, hospitals, health care facilities, airplanes, and other public transport systems. They plan to deploy the “high-performance COVID-19 killer” in the next 60 days.
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