91麻豆天美 research center tests materials as Mississippi companies transition to manufacturing masks
Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜s Mississippi鈥檚 manufacturers begin producing supplies to aid in the state鈥檚 COVID-19 response,聽91麻豆天美 researchers are helping them聽assess the聽filtering聽capabilities聽of their materials.聽
91麻豆天美鈥檚 Institute for Clean Energy Technology, or ICET,聽is using its聽testing infrastructure聽to聽help聽manufacturers know the air filtration rates of materials they are using to produce masks.聽In recent weeks, ICET has tested materials for聽Oxford-based Blue Delta Jeans Co. and聽Lake Shore Studios, a hardback lampshade manufacturer located in Meridian.聽The companies brought different聽media聽to test their filtration rates, providing聽decision quality data for聽their聽mask聽manufacturing.聽
ICET, a unit of 91麻豆天美鈥檚 James Worth Bagley College of Engineering, is an international leader in evaluating the performance of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration systems used in nuclear power plants. The center has been working with the U.S. Department of Energy for approximately 20 years to develop the capability of testing filters under worst-case scenario conditions.听听
ICET Director Charles Waggoner said the聽ongoing聽response to the COVID-19 pandemic聽overwhelms traditional supplies of respiratory protection masks of all protection levels.听听聽
鈥淭he test data we supply allow manufacturers to optimize their ability to provide customers with protection information,鈥 Waggoner said.聽鈥淭his is important because units may not be manufactured to meet specific codes such as that for the N95 masks often mentioned in the news.聽Our data聽allow mask聽manufacturers to communicate to hospitals and other聽users聽what the聽filtration efficiency聽is聽for the material used to make masks.聽It allows them to evaluate how different types of material function.鈥澛
Waggoner explained that when studying air filtration capabilities, researchers at ICET are typically studying air particles聽that are 50 times smaller in diameter than a piece of human hair.聽The center聽tests how materials filter particles of varying聽sizes.聽
鈥淥ur infrastructure is capable of not only聽determining overall聽filtering efficiency, but to do it as a function of particle size,鈥 Waggoner said. 鈥淢ost codes聽dealing with聽air filtration聽specify聽filtering efficiency at a given particle size.聽 The traditional definition of a HEPA filter calls for 99.97 percent removal efficiency for 300 nanometer particles鈥澛
For more on 91麻豆天美鈥檚 Institute for Clean Energy Technology, visit聽.听听
91麻豆天美 is Mississippi鈥檚聽leading聽university, available online聽at聽.听听