By MDS – C19 Staff , January 1 2021

A UV-LED light kills Covid, and it does so much more economically and sustainably. The team that tested the solution is thinking about use in ventilation systems

The results of the first study conducted on the disinfection efficiency of UV-LED irradiation at different wavelengths or frequencies on a virus of the coronavirus family arrive.

The study was conducted by the professor Hadas Mamane, Head of the Environmental Engineering Program at TAU's School of Mechanical Engineering, Iby and Aladar Fleischman Engineering Faculty. The article on UV-LEDs was published in the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology. And the results bring an interesting proposal that could concern ventilation systems.

A good light

"The whole world is currently looking for effective solutions to disinfect the coronavirus," Mamane says. “The problem is that it takes a lot of manpower to disinfect a surface or ventilation system on a bus, train, sports hall or plane with chemical spraying. For spraying to be effective, it is necessary to give the chemical time to act on the surface. "

Disinfection systems based on LED bulbs, on the other hand, can be installed in the aeration systems, sterilizing the air sucked in and returned to the environment.

Put a UV-LED in the aerator

“We have found that it is quite simple to kill the coronavirus using UV-LED bulbs, i.e. LED bulbs that radiate ultraviolet light,” Mamane explained.

“With the right configuration it is possible to kill viruses by using cheaper and more readily available LED bulbs, which consume little energy and do not contain mercury like normal bulbs. Our research has commercial and social implications, given the possibility of using these UV-LED bulbs in all areas of our life, safely and quickly ”.

What is the wavelength that affects Covid?

In this study, the researchers tested the optimal wavelength for killing the coronavirus and evaluated a suitable length of 285 nanometers (nm). The same efficacy, in fact, of a wavelength of 265nm, which takes less than half a minute to destroy more than 99,9% of the coronavirus. This is a significant achievement, because the cost of 285nm LED bulbs is much lower than that of 265nm bulbs, and the former are also more readily available.

Eventually, as science develops, the industry will be able to make the necessary changes and install UV-LED bulbs in robotic systems or air conditioning, suction and water systems, and thus efficiently disinfect large surfaces and spaces. Professor Mamane believes the technology will be available for use in the near future.

It is important to point out (you never know) that it is very dangerous to try to use this UV-LED method to disinfect surfaces inside houses. To be fully effective, a system must be designed so that a person is not directly exposed to light.

In the future, the researchers will test their unique combination of integrated damage mechanisms and other recently developed ideas about efficient direct and indirect combined damage to bacteria and viruses on different surfaces, air and water.

We hope to find a light at the bottom of the ventilation systems, forget about the tunnels.

The study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Yoram Gerchman Oranim College; Dr. Michal Mandelboim, Director of the National Center for Influenza and Respiratory Viruses at Tel HaShomer Sheba Medical Center; is Nehemya Friedman by Tel Hashomer.

Contacts and sources:

Publication: Coronavirus UV-LED Disinfection: Wavelength Effect. Yoram Gerchman, Hadas Mamane, Nehemya Friedman, Michal Mandelboim. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 2020; 212: 112044 DOI: 10.1016 / j.jphotobiol.2020.112044

Gianluca Riccio