Yonsei Med J.  2010 Nov;51(6):918-923. 10.3349/ymj.2010.51.6.918.

Effect of an Air Cleaner with Electrostatic Filter on the Removal of Airborne House Dust Mite Allergens

• Agrawal SR
• Kim HJ
• Lee YW
• Sohn JH
• Lee JH
• Kim YJ
• Lee SH
• Hong CS
• Park JW

• KMID: 1779640
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2010.51.6.918

Abstract

PURPOSE
The effects of air cleaners on the removal of airborne indoor allergens, especially house dust mites (HDM), are still controversial. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of an air cleaner with an electrostatic filter on the removal of airborne mite allergens.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A dried HDM culture medium that contained mite body particles and excretions was dispersed in a chamber equipped with an electrostatic air cleaner. The number of airborne particles was recorded continuously by a dust spectrometer for 60 minutes. Airborne particles in the chamber were collected on a sampling filter at a flow rate of 10 L/min and the Der f 1 concentration in the filter extracts was measured by two-site ELISA.
RESULTS
The air cleaner efficiently removed airborne HDM particles. The air cleaner removed airborne HDM particles (size 2-12.5 microm) 11.4 +/- 2.9 fold (cleaner operating for 15 minutes), 5.4 +/- 0.7 fold (cleaner operating for 30 minutes), and 2.4 +/- 0.2 fold (cleaner operating for 60 minutes) more than the removal of HDM particles by natural settle down. Removal kinetics differed according to the particle size of the airborne particles. The air cleaner decreased the concentration of Der f 1 in the extraction of airborne particles collected on the air sampling filter by 60.3%.
CONCLUSION
The electrostatic air cleaner can remove airborne HDM allergens and may be useful as a supplementary environmental control tool for HDM sensitized respiratory allergic patients.

Keyword

House dust mite; electrostatic air cleaner; environmental control

MeSH Terms

Air Pollution, Indoor/*analysis
Allergens/analysis
Animals
Antigens, Dermatophagoides/*analysis/*immunology
Culture Media/metabolism
Dust/analysis/immunology
Environment
Environmental Monitoring/methods
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods
Filtration
Humans
Kinetics
Mites
Particle Size
Static Electricity

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Distribution of airborne particles per size immediately after dispersion of the 150 mg of culture media at the closed chamber. It was expressed with the volume of the particles (A) or number of particles (B) per m3 according to the size of the particles.

• 

  Fig. 2 Removal efficiency of the split electrostatic and fine mesh mechanical pre-filter air cleaner. The size and number of HDM particles were measured using a dust spectrometer. (A) HDM particles in the size range 10.0 - 12.5 µm. (B) HDM particles in the size range 5.0 - 6.5 µm. (C) HDM particles in the size range 2.0 - 2.5 µm. (D) HDM particles in the size range 0.25 - 0.28 µm. The bars in these figures represent standard error of the mean. HDM, house dust mites.

• 

  Fig. 3 Removal efficiency of the air cleaner expressed as the percentage removal of airborne HDM particles in the chamber. The baseline value is the concentration of particles immediately after spraying. (A) Removal efficiency after 15 minutes. (B) Removal efficiency after 30 minutes. (C) Removal efficiency after 60 minutes. Black bars in A-C represent the rate of settlement of HDM particles. D shows the fold-increase in HDM removal by the cleaner compared to the natural settlement. The dotted line represents 1 fold indicating natural settlement. Bars in these figures represent standard errors of the mean. *p < 0.05.

• 

  Fig. 4 CADR values of the electrostatic and fine mesh mechanical pre-filter air cleaner according to the size of airborne particles. CADR values are airborne particle size dependent. The bars in this figure represent standard error of the mean. *p < 0.05. CADR, Clean Air Delivery Rate.

• 

  Fig. 5 Concentration of Der f 1 in extracts from the air sampling filters installed in a closed chamber with or without air cleaner. The bars in this figure represent standard error of the mean. *p < 0.05.

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