Mode: Mixed
Improving indoor air requires addressing source control, ventilation, and filtration. This presentation explores filter performance from both aerosol science and building science perspectives with a focus on how theoretical and laboratory-tested filtration efficiencies translate to filtration performance in real buildings. The removal of particulate matter is only part of the filtration story. Filters also have a variety of secondary consequences including emissions of gas-phase compounds and complicated impacts on energy use. Some of these secondary effects may have a positive impact, including the ability of filters to offer insight on air quality through filter forensics, the analysis of the particles that accumulate on the filter. Several examples of filter forensics for disease surveillance, exposure assessment, and ambient air quality are used to illustrate the hidden value in used filters. The COVID-19 pandemic further increased the attention paid to central and portable filtration in buildings and this presentation assesses new challenges and opportunities that arise from this renewed focus.
Professor Jeffrey Siegel is a Professor of Civil and Mineral Engineering and a member of the Hub for Advancing Buildings at the University of Toronto and a Bahen/Tanenbaum Chair in Civil Engineering. He holds joint appointments at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences. He has an M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley as well as a B.Sc. from Swarthmore College. He is internationally recognized for his work on indoor air quality and air cleaning and is a fellow of ASHRAE and a member of the Academy of Fellows of the International Society for Indoor Air and Climate (ISIAQ). His research interests include healthy and sustainable buildings, filtration and air cleaning, ventilation and indoor air quality, control of indoor particulate matter, cognitive impacts of indoor air quality, and the impact of building systems on indoor microbiology and chemistry. Prior to his position at the University of Toronto, Professor Siegel was an Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin.
Clean water and clean air are vital for public health. This project focuses on developing high-efficiency and environmentally sustainable filters for removing harmful air/water pollutants. The team has developed novel architectures and functionalities for the filters to achieve high permeance, high removal efficiency, and excellent reusability.
