Examination of the effectiveness of filtering half masks protection at various flow rates of aerosol contaminants

Abstract

The possibility of air contamination by biological agents, by natural or artificial way, requires the improvement and use of different means for respiratory protection. The paper presents comparative filtration efficiency testing of different filtering half masks models, in order to determine the possibility of using this means for respiratory protection of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Army members. As a test agent and an appropriate simulator of biological aerosols is used solid NaCl aerosol. Determination of the concentration of the test aerosol at various flow rates was performed by flame photometry method. It was found that all the tested models are manufactured from filtering material of high quality and that filtering materials of lower quality shows less differences between filtering characteristics at lower flow rates. The high efficiency of the tested filtering half masks models provides an opportunity for their use in respiratory protection.

Mogućnost kontaminacije vazduha biološkim agensima, prirodnim ili veštačkim putem, zahteva unapređenje i primenu različitih sredstava respiratorne zaštite. U radu je prikazano komparativno ispitivanje efikasnosti filtriranja različitih modela filtrirajuće polumaske, sa ciljem utvrđivanja mogućnosti upotrebe ovog sredstva za respiratornu zaštitu pripadnika Ministarstva odbrane i Vojske Srbije. Kao ispitni agens i odgovarajući simulator bioloških aerosola je korišćen čvrsti aerosol NaCl. Određivanje koncentracije ispitnog aerosola pri različitim protocima je vršeno metodom plamene fotometrije. Utvrđeno je da su svi testirani modeli proizvedeni od filtrirajućih materijala visokog kvaliteta i da pri manjim protocima filtrirajući materijali slabijeg kvaliteta pokazuju manje međusobne razlike u filtrirajućim karakteristikama. Visoka efikasnost testiranih modela filtrirajućih polumaski pruža mogućnost za njihovu upotrebu za respiratornu zaštitu. PR Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 34034.