United States Environmental Protection Agency
Biological Inactivation Efficiency by HVAC In-Duct Ultraviolet
Light Systems
EPA 600-R-06-xxx June 2006
Technology Evaluation Report
Biological Inactivation Efficiency by HVAC In-Duct Ultraviolet Light Systems
By
Karin Foarde, Deborah Franke, Tricia Webber, James Hanley, and Kathleen Owen
RTI International 3040 Cornwallis Road Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Eric
Koglin Task Order Project Officer National Homeland Security Research Center
Office of Research and Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 944
East Harmon Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89119
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Office of Research and Development’s National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC), funded and managed this technology evaluation through a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) under General Services Administration contract number GS23F0011L-3 with Battelle, with RTI under subcontract to Battelle. This report has been peer and administratively reviewed and has been approved for publication as an EPA document. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use of a specific product.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged by Congress with protecting the nation’s air, water, and land resources. Under a mandate of national environmental laws, the Agency strives to formulate and implement actions leading to a compatible balance between human activities and the ability of natural systems to support and nurture life. To meet this mandate, the EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) provides data and science support that can be used to solve environmental problems and to build the scientific knowledge base needed to manage our ecological resources wisely, to understand how pollutants affect our health, and to prevent or reduce environmental risks.
In September 2002, EPA announced the formation of the National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC). The NHSRC is part of the Office of Research and Development; it manages, coordinates, and supports a variety of research and technical assistance efforts. These efforts are designed to provide appropriate, affordable, effective, and validated technologies and methods for addressing risks posed by chemical, biological, and radiological terrorist attacks. Research focuses on enhancing our ability to detect, contain, and clean up in the event of such attacks.
NHSRC’s team of world renowned scientists and engineers is dedicated to understanding the terrorist threat, communicating the risks, and mitigating the results of attacks. Guided by the roadmap set forth in EPA’s Strategic Plan for Homeland Security, NHSRC ensures rapid production and distribution of security-related products.
The NHSRC has created the Technology Testing and Evaluation Program (TTEP) in an effort to provide reliable information regarding the performance of homeland security related technologies. TTEP provides independent, quality assured performance information that is useful to decision makers in purchasing or applying the tested technologies. It provides potential users with unbiased, third-party information that can supplement vendor-provided information. Stakeholder involvement ensures that user needs and perspectives are incorporated into the test design so that useful performance information is produced for each of the tested technologies. The technology categories of interest include detection and monitoring, water treatment, air purification, decontamination, and computer modeling tools for use by those responsible for protecting buildings, drinking water supplies and infrastructure, and for decontaminating structures and the outdoor environment.
The evaluation reported herein was conducted by RTI International under contract to Battelle as part of the TTEP program. Information on NHSRC and TTEP can be found at http://www.epa.gov/ordnhsrc/index.htm.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC) Technology Testing and Evaluation Program (TTEP) is helping to protect human health and the environment from adverse impacts resulting from acts of terror by carrying out performance tests on homeland security technologies. Under TTEP, RTI recently evaluated the performance of the Lumalier ADPL-60-8. The objective of testing the device was to evaluate its bioaerosol inactivation efficiency as a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) in-duct ultraviolet light system.
The product was tested using a test plan approved by EPA, Test/QA Plan for Biological Inactivation Efficiency by HVAC In-Duct Ultraviolet Light Air Cleaners.(1) The tests were conducted using three organisms, two bacteria (Bacillus atrophaeus and Serratia marcescens) and one bacterial virus (MS2). These organisms were selected because their sizes, shapes, and susceptibility to UV inactivation make them reasonable surrogates for biological warfare agents (BWAs). Generally, vegetative bacteria are readily killed and bacterial spores are more difficult. To model use in an HVAC system, RTI used a test duct designed for testing filtration and inactivation efficiencies of aerosol, bioaerosol, and chemical challenges.
The bioaerosol inactivation efficiencies calculated for the three organisms were 40% for B. atrophaeus, 99.98% for S. marcescens and 82% for MS2. The irradiance was measured as 1710 µW/cm2 at 126 cm (50 in.) upstream from the closest lamps with an airflow of 0.93 m3/sec (1970 cfm). The system had eight lamps that were burned in for 100 hours prior to measurements.