As you read about our air purifiers and the various filter technologies we use, you may have come across the term ‘HEGA carbon cloth’ and wondered, ‘what’s that?’ For many years, we have been using HEGA carbon cloth in our air purifiers. But it can also be used in a variety of other ways, such as to ensure clean drinking water, purify food products and accelerate wound healing. And now, with the arrival of Covid-19, the need for this particular filtration media has increased dramatically.
How Does it Work?
Bacteria and viruses, including Covid-19, are drawn to the carbon cloth due to electrostatic forces, also known ‘van der Waals’ forces. This ensures contaminants, such as Covid-19 are removed from the surrounding air and trapped in our filters.
Clinically Proven Technology
In 2009, a clinical trial carried out by the Health Protection Agency in the UK set out to demonstrate the effectiveness of HEGA carbon cloth for virus capture, as well as virus retention and destruction. The tests involved using the cloth as an independent layer and as part of a facemask.
For the purposes of the study, a surrogate virus, known as MS-2 Coliphage was used. MS-2 is often used in place of influenzas, and at 23 to 28nm in diameter, it is smaller than Covid-19.
Using an aerosol, MS-2 was sprayed onto layers of carbon cloth. The cloth was then examined to measure the number of viral particles trapped. Tests revealed that nearly 90% of viral particles were trapped. The cloth was then tested for retention and was shown to be almost 100% effective at retaining the viral particles. And finally, a third test was carried out to measure how effective the cloth was at destroying viral particles. After 6 hours, viral particles were measured, and again results were impressive, as 99.9998% of the viral particles captured were destroyed.
The results of this trial are very clear, HEGA carbon cloth is highly effective at capturing, retaining, and destroying viral particles such as Covid-19. Furthermore, it is highly effective at removing other contaminants such as bacteria, VOC’s and gases.
Austin Air is proud to feature HEGA carbon cloth in our Bedroom Machine air purifier. (Hot tip: the Bedroom Machine makes a great addition to any room, they’re not just for the bedroom.)
