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<p>222&#xa0;nm Far-UV-C light is considered an effective technology to inactivate airborne viruses in indoor environments, even while being occupied by humans. This is due to the safer characteristics of 222&#xa0;nm UV-C light, which has much higher exposure limits as compared to the more traditional 254&#xa0;nm UV-C. Several studies have reported on the susceptibility of viruses in laboratory aerosol chambers. Unfortunately, the chambers used in these studies have complex air-flow characteristics and non-uniform UV irradiance, resulting in a large variability in the calculated dose of the UV. In this study, we report the design and construction of a novel UV-C exposure chamber, with a well-defined laminar flow profile and nearly uniform UV-C irradiance across the aerosol path. This was done by using pairs of UV-C lamps on both sides of the virus aerosol flow. The new Far-UV-C exposure chamber provides a simpler UV dose calculation with less variability, resulting in more accurate virus inactivation rate measurements. We demonstrated the use of the new chamber for the inactivation of HCoV-OC43 betacoronavirus (a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2) at low Far-UV-C doses. We found an HCoV-OC43 virus inactivation rate of 6.51 ± 1.69&#xa0;cm<sup>2</sup>&#xa0;mJ<sup>−1</sup> (95% CI), that can be used for designing Far-UV-C disinfection systems for continuous operation at low doses of 222&#xa0;nm UV-C light. We have also measured the ozone generation rate for the lamps used in our new exposure chamber; we conclude that these lamps can be safely used with minimum ozone generation (49.9 ± 9.8&#xa0;µg&#xa0;h<sup>−1</sup>) in indoor environments.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>

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A Novel Bioaerosol Chamber to Measure the Inactivation Rate of Airborne Viruses at Low Far-UV-C Radiation Doses

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2025年9月26日

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  • Francisco J. Romay,
  • Nader M. Sobhy,
  • Aaron M. Collins,
  • Ryne A. Juidici,
  • Minghao Wang,
  • Christiana R. B. Youssef,
  • David Y. H. Pui,
  • Sagar M. Goyal,
  • Alvin C. K. Lai

摘要

222 nm Far-UV-C light is considered an effective technology to inactivate airborne viruses in indoor environments, even while being occupied by humans. This is due to the safer characteristics of 222 nm UV-C light, which has much higher exposure limits as compared to the more traditional 254 nm UV-C. Several studies have reported on the susceptibility of viruses in laboratory aerosol chambers. Unfortunately, the chambers used in these studies have complex air-flow characteristics and non-uniform UV irradiance, resulting in a large variability in the calculated dose of the UV. In this study, we report the design and construction of a novel UV-C exposure chamber, with a well-defined laminar flow profile and nearly uniform UV-C irradiance across the aerosol path. This was done by using pairs of UV-C lamps on both sides of the virus aerosol flow. The new Far-UV-C exposure chamber provides a simpler UV dose calculation with less variability, resulting in more accurate virus inactivation rate measurements. We demonstrated the use of the new chamber for the inactivation of HCoV-OC43 betacoronavirus (a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2) at low Far-UV-C doses. We found an HCoV-OC43 virus inactivation rate of 6.51 ± 1.69 cm2 mJ−1 (95% CI), that can be used for designing Far-UV-C disinfection systems for continuous operation at low doses of 222 nm UV-C light. We have also measured the ozone generation rate for the lamps used in our new exposure chamber; we conclude that these lamps can be safely used with minimum ozone generation (49.9 ± 9.8 µg h−1) in indoor environments.

Graphical abstract