What’s the best way to filter a room free of COVID-19 particles? A little electric charge helps.
Global Plasma Solutions of Charlotte, N.C., has been sweeping up — so to speak — when it comes to selling its particle ionization system to universities, municipalities and government clients, from the U.S. Air Force to the Anoka-Hennepin School District.
By the end of October, the city of St. Paul plans to install the equipment within all of its 130 municipal buildings, from police stations to rec centers. St. Catherine University has already done so, as have the Blake School, Cretin-Derham Hall, Minnehaha Academy and others.
Final negotiations are underway with airlines such as American, United and Delta.
The ozone-free ionizer, which is situated within a building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, zaps the air, deactivating virus germs while swelling the non-pathogenic particles they float around on large enough to be caught by standard air filters.
The units can cost from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars apiece, depending upon the building needs, before installation.
Mark Johnson, vice president of Safety, Security and Facilities at St. Kate’s, said he used a particulate counter to determine the technology’s effectiveness and was sold after seeing about a 70 percent drop in dust and other air particulates.
He also bought a Global Plasma Solutions unit for his home for about $250 and installed it himself. Johnson called the technology “a great add-on to everything we’re doing to try to lessen the spread of COVID,” though it has its limitations.
Among them, it works in concert with forced air systems, which makes it incompatible with some older buildings.
“It’s a supplement in our tool box,” Johnson said. “It’s not an end-all, be-all. I’m trying to add this as another layer of protection, and a fairly cost-efficient layer, just like social distancing, just like masking.”
Mike Michaud, senior project manager with the city of St. Paul, is working with NV5 engineering consultants to roll out a variety of air circulation and purification improvements in the city’s municipal facilities.
Michaud said the city has $2.4 million in federal CARES Act funding to put toward the effort, and he’s quickly approaching the roof of his budget.
Where capable based on the age of facilities and the control systems in place, the city is attempting to tweak the intake of outside air. Elsewhere, they’re installing freestanding HEPA air filter units, most of which come with UV treatments.
The Global Plasma Solutions approach is one of several strategies.
“It’s a technology that’s been around for a while,” Michaud said. “We’re trying to do the best we can with the amount of money we requested. It’s coming together very quickly.”
HOW IONIZATION WORKS
Here’s how the ionization system works, according to Tom Beutell, a regional vice president for Global Plasma Solutions, who is based in Edina.
Most commercial air filters carry a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, or MERV rating, from eight to 20, with eight being the standard filter quality for residences, schools and government buildings.
Hospitals, labs and manufacturing settings install higher-rated MERV filters because they either produce more pathogens or need a more sterile environment.
The goal of the Global Plasma Solutions equipment is to work alongside the existing heating, air conditioning and ventilation system and improve its efficiency, effectively turning a MERV 8 unit into a higher-functioning MERV 13 unit.
“It will pick up four to five MERV ratings, which is significant,” Beutell said.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus particles are tiny — so small, in fact, that they tend to linger suspended in indoor air attached to non-pathogenic particles, sometimes for hours. Standard MERV 8 air filters don’t do a great job of capturing them because of their size.
“They don’t get pushed back by the air conditioning system to the filters,” Beutell said. “They’re physically too small. They don’t have enough surface area.”
Situated in a box next to the HVAC equipment, the Global Plasma Solutions technology hits them with an electric charge, which serves two purposes. The ionization swells the size of the non-pathogenic particle that the SARS-CoV-2 virus sits on, making it susceptible to the filters.
Meanwhile, ionization strikes the protein spike on each SARS-CoV-2 particle, rendering it inactive and unable to replicate. Its RNA (the virus equivalent of DNA) can no longer reproduce.
“We help clean the air,” Beutell said. “We enhance the filtration substantially.”