“Our idea is to improve the quality of indoor air, avoiding the inconveniences caused by air filtering”
Scientists from the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry and the Center for Molecular Biology of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) have developed an indoor air purification system that allows pathogenic microbes and viruses to pass through, but not before neutralizing them and rendering them harmless. “Our idea is to improve the quality of indoor air, avoiding the inconveniences caused by air filtering,” says Miguel Ángel Bañares, project leader.
“To remove infectious viruses and bacteria indoors, what is being done today is to pass the air through filters that trap them along with particles and dust. Although these filters are very effective, they pose several problems. They have to be thrown away, exposing us to a safety problem when removing them and an environmental impact ”, he explains.
The catalysts of the Bañares team’s filters would inactivate not only covid viruses, but also flu viruses. “Currently, we are doing tests with aerosol generators in the laboratory. Afterwards, we will carry out tests in an area the size of a storage room, and our idea is to test it, once it has been shown to be effective and safe, in wards at the La Paz and Severo Ochoa university hospitals in Madrid”, reports the researcher.