Rensair Air Purifiers Help Remove SARS-CoV-2 Particles (COVID-19)

Rensair’s patented technology uses advanced purification technology, including UVC light and HEPA 13 filters. To better understand how Rensair is effective against COVID-19, we must understand the virus and the scientific reports on the technologies that have proven to mitigate its spread.

Coronavirus is a general term for a family of virus strains that cause diseases such as MERS and SARS and the “new” SARS-CoV-2 strain, which causes the disease COVID-19. 

Although coronavirus strains infected humans since the 1960s, Thomas J. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D. and Vidmantas Petraitis, M.D., infectious disease experts at the Infectious Diseases Translational Research Laboratory, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, contend that COVID-19 is especially troubling because of its “high secondary infection rate, rapid spread (more rapid than MERS or SARS), and fatality rate (2-3%).”

First, let’s explore how HEPA filters are effective at removing coronavirus from the air. Tim Heffernan addressed this issue in his July 2020 article for The New York Times, Can HEPA Air Purifiers Capture the Coronavirus?  Heffernan explains that the virus that causes COVID-19 is approximately 0.125 micron in diameter, which falls squarely within the particle size range that HEPA filters capture with extraordinary efficiency. “Many media outlets have incorrectly stated that HEPA filters don’t filter below 0.3 micron and therefore could not capture airborne coronaviruses. That’s wrong,” he says. 

He also sites this NASA study of HEPA filtration and the graph they include (see below), which he says, “does a good job of explaining why HEPA filters are actually most efficient—almost 100% at 0.01 micron—at capturing ultrafine particles below the 0.3-micron HEPA test standard.” 

HEPA Filters from Engineering360 supports this by confirming that HEPA filters are specifically “designed to trap a vast majority of very small particulate contaminants from an air stream.”

The Rensair air purifier technology has been extensively tested by third party laboratories including Eurofins and Norconsult. Containing a HEPA 13 filter it is 99.97% effective at removing airborne particles including viruses. 

We can conclude that Rensair’s HEPA 13 filter stops airborne SARS-CoV-2 pathogens. Find out more here.

Having stopped the pathogens, let’s then explore the role of the UVC light, which is another key component in the patented Rensair air purifier technology. Walsh and Petraitis in their report from March 2020, 2020 COVID-19 Coronavirus Susceptibility, explain that viruses are DNA molecules incapable of being treated with antibiotics and require a vaccine. However, they clarify that ultraviolet light can destroy the DNA of viruses, “The SARS-CoV-2 virus has not yet been specifically tested for its ultraviolet susceptibility but many other tests on related coronaviruses, including the SARS coronavirus, have concluded that they are highly susceptible to ultraviolet inactivation.” 

The September 2020 study by the Henry Ford Health System, UV-C light is effective for killing COVID-19 on N95s, study demonstrates, has since confirmed the effectiveness of UVC light in killing the coronavirus. Researchers here showed that N95 respirators tainted with COVID-19 can be effectively and safely decontaminated using UVC light. 

Lastly, the dose of UVC light that the virus is exposed to also plays a role. The table below summarizes the results of studies that have been performed on Coronaviruses under ultraviolet light exposure, with the specific species indicated in each case. The D90 value indicates the ultraviolet dose needed for 90% inactivation. Although there is a wide range of variation in the D90 values, this is typical of laboratory studies on ultraviolet susceptibility. The range of D90 values for coronaviruses is 7-241 J/m2 the mean of which is 67 J/m2, should adequately represent the ultraviolet susceptibility of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus.

Based on these studies, we can estimate that SARS-CoV-2 particles captured inside the Rensair air purifier by the HEPA 13 filter, which’s filter surface is continuously illuminated by the UVC light, are killed in 4-6 seconds.

In a statement letter about the Rensair air purifier technology written by Oslo University Hospital researcher Dr. Hilde Bånrud concludes, “Based on the tests performed by accredited laboratories and scientifically published literature, one can conclude that the Rensair air cleaner effectively reduces the level of microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, moulds and yeasts in the air.” 

We can therefore conclude that the Rensair UVC light inactivates pathogens captured by Rensair, and the machine is thus effective in helping remove airborne SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). 

Contact us to find out how Rensair can help your business.