Killing the bugs

In tests conducted for the US Department of Defense, a new air sterilisation system developed at the University at Buffalo has killed every biological agent which it has been presented with, including airborne spores, viruses and bacteria.

The system, called BioBlower, is based on a modification of a Roots blower, a mechanical air-pump technology, which has been in existence for more than 100 years.

The BioBlower destroys airborne pathogens by rapidly heating contaminated air under pressure and mechanically compressing it as it is being blown rapidly through the mechanical rotary pump. The system then blows the disinfected air back into the enclosed environment - whether it is a tank, plane, ship, tent or building.

A prototype, produced by Buffalo BioBlower Technologies, a UB spin-off company, destroyed biological agents to a level of better than one part per million in the independent evaluation conducted over a period of four weeks by the Research Triangle Institute for the US Department of Defense Joint Program for Chemical and Biological Defense Collective Protection.