Performance evaluation of an electrostatic precipitator with a copper plate using an aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 surrogate (bacteriophage phi 6).

The global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has reminded us of the importance of developing technologies to reduce and control bioaerosols in built environments. For bioaerosol control, the interaction between researchers and biomaterials is essential, and considering the characteristics of target pathogens is strongly required. Herein, we used enveloped viral aerosols, bacteriophage phi 6, for evaluating the performance of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) with a copper-collecting plate (Cu-plate). In particular, bacteriophage phi 6 is an accessible enveloped virus that can be operated in biosafety level (BSL)-1 as a promising surrogate for SARS-CoV-2 with structural and morphological similarities. ESP with Cu-plate showed >91% of particle removal efficiency for viral aerosols at 77 cm/s of airflow face velocity. Moreover, the Cu-plate presented a potent antiviral performance of 5.4-relative log reduction within <15 min of contact. We believe that the evaluation of ESP performance using an aerosolized enveloped virus and plaque assay is invaluable. Our results provide essential information for the development of bioaerosol control technologies that will lead the post-corona era.