SafeAir is a project financed by the Caixa Foundation, CaixaResearch, led by the CSIC that optimizes the use of energy and material resources to purify the air by designing catalysts, doing so efficiently and sustainably.
If the Covid-19 pandemic has left us with something, it is that the air can be our enemy. We already knew them because of air pollution. And also because some organisms were transmitted through it, especially in winter times. But the coronavirus has forced us to rethink how we can have a safer and cleaner environment.
That is exactly what you want SafeAira project financed by the Caixa Foundation, CaixaResearch, led by the CSIC, in which researchers participate Miguel A. Banares and Ana Iglesiasfrom the Institute of Catalysis (ICP-CSIC), the researcher Antonio Alcami, of the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center (CBMSO-CSIC) as well as the researchers christina baldfrom the La Paz University Hospital, and María Luz García, from the Severo Ochoa University Hospital.
«This project arose as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis, CoViD-19, which in almost three years has infected more than 600 million and has killed about 7 million people», acknowledges Miguel Á. bathe.
The multidisciplinary team combines experience in catalytic air purification, in virology and hospital care, respectively. The project began in December 2022 and has a duration of three years during which five phases have been contemplated. “It begins with the design of the catalysts and their evaluation on a laboratory scale against various viruses, and ends with the construction of air purification prototypes,” says Miguel Á. bathe.
The tests in real conditions will be carried out in the areas of pediatric patients and in the neonatal intensive care units of the La Paz and Severo Ochoa hospitals. “Once the effectiveness of such systems has been demonstrated, they can be installed anywhere: public transport, buildings, offices, schools, gyms, shopping and leisure centers”, points out this researcher.
Purifying the air is not an easy task, but it is necessary because, as Bañares acknowledges, “we spend close to 90% of our time indoors, where exposure to airborne pathogens is greater than in open spaces where the air flows and Therefore, it is essential to ensure the quality of the air we breathe indoors.”
Current methods trap or break down indoor airborne pathogens. «The first -he explains- physically trap pathogens in filters (such as HEPA); They are very effective, but they become saturated and have to be replaced, which entails a cost and an environmental and health risk. Pathogen degradation methods use ultraviolet light or release reactive species inactivating viruses, but they can affect people’s health and damage equipment.”
«We optimize the use of energy and material resources to purify the air, doing it efficiently and sustainably»
The approach of this group of scientists differs from traditional systems since, Bañares details, a catalytic filter carries out the attack on its own surface without the need to trap the virus. «Oxidizing agents are not released into the environment, but are generated and act on the surface of the catalytic filter, where the viruses are degraded, thus avoiding the risk to people or equipment. In addition to being safer, a catalytic filter could be used for an unlimited time; likewise, catalytic systems consume less energy per inactivated pathogen. Together, we optimize the use of energy and material resources to purify the air, doing it efficiently and sustainably.”
SafeAir transfers the experience of this group in the purification of chemical contamination in the air to purify biological contamination in the air. However, Prof. Bañares acknowledges, “combining both purifications in a system implies greater complexity, since the nature of the processes is different.”
Thus, for example, in the case of chemical contaminants, “purification involves breaking them down into innocuous molecules”, while “in the case of pathogens, purification involves inactivating them.”
In the case of pathogens, purification involves inactivating them
Bañares indicates that this inactivation is achieved by causing such damage to the virus that it is incapable of infecting our cells. «The aim of science is to explore and discover new applications for the good of society. Research must be done with a strategy where today’s results give us a foothold for new developments tomorrow. Thus, once the inactivation of viruses in the air has been optimized, we will be able to combine both experiences and explore systems that can combine chemical and biological air purification in indoor rooms”.
There is no doubt that the project arose as a consequence of the coronavirus crisis, Covid-19, which in almost three years has infected more than 600 million and killed some 7 million people. “SARS-CoV-2 has made society aware of the importance of indoor air quality,” says Bañares, who nevertheless warns that “this is just the tip of the iceberg: every year the flu kills half a million people and together with other lower respiratory tract diseases this figure increases to three million worldwide. But at the same time as deaths, the disease burden in terms of hospitalizations, treatments, sick leave, etc. In addition, they are detrimental to our health. a huge health expense».