Improvement of indoor air quality in pet shop using gaseous chlorine dioxide

Investigation and disinfection of bacteria and fungi in sports fitness center

This study investigated the air quality improvement in terms of bacterial and fungal contamination in an exercise room of a fitness center under normal operating conditions. Environmental conditions including air conditioning, ventilation, moisture, CO₂, particulate matters, and total number of users were also recorded. In addition, fungal and bacterial load were assessed and disinfection on sports equipment surface was also examined. Background bacteria and fungi densities in bioaerosols were in the range of 249 ± 65 to 812 ± 111 CFU/m³ and 226 ± 39 to 837 ± 838 CFU/m³ in the exercise room of the fitness center and 370 ± 86 to 953 ± 136 CFU/m³ and 465 ± 108 to 1734 ± 580 CFU/m³ in the outdoor air, respectively. Chlorine dioxide and weak acid hypochlorous water aerosols could remove both bacteria and fungi much better than water scrubbing. Contact time of 15 min was sufficient to control both bacteria and fungi to comply with the official air quality standards. User density and carbon dioxide deteriorated both bacteria and fungi disinfection performance whereas temperature was only statistically significant on fungi disinfection. Other factors including relative humidity, airflow velocity, and particulate matters did not have any statistically significant effect on microbial inactivation. Apart from bioaerosol disinfection, inactivation of microorganisms on surfaces of sports equipment was also conducted using chlorine dioxide, zinc oxide, weak acid hypochlorous water, and commercial disinfectant. The surfaces of bicycle handle, dumbbell, and sit-up bench were found to be contaminated with bacteria. Overall bacterial load was 390 to 3720 CFU/cm² with Escherichia coli specifically 550 to 1080 CFU/cm². Chlorine dioxide and zinc oxide were noticeably better than weak acid hypochlorous water and commercial disinfectant in terms of bacteria inactivation whereas all tested disinfectants had comparable effectiveness on E. coli disinfection. Targeted microorganisms on the sports equipment surface were sufficiently inactivated within 2 min after the application of disinfectant.

Disinfection efficiency of hospital infectious disease wards with chlorine dioxide and hypochlorous acid

The disinfection efficiencies of two chemical disinfectants, chlorine dioxide and weak acid hypochlorous water (WAHW), were examined in the soiled room and dishwashing room of a hospital infectious disease ward in Taiwan. The investigations were conducted in two seasons, namely winter and summer, in order to examine the correlation between the bioaerosol concentration and the environmental factors. In addition, a single-daily disinfection mode (SM) and a twice-daily disinfection mode (TM) were applied in this study. The results showed that the bacteria and fungi colony counts were strongly correlated with the temperature. Both disinfectants reduced the bacteria and fungi concentrations in the considered rooms. However, of the two disinfectants, the ClO₂ showed a stronger disinfection effect than the WAHW. It means that when using ClO₂ as the disinfectant, the disinfection efficiency of the TM treatment mode is significantly better than that of the SM treatment mode. But, when using WAHW as the disinfectant, no significant difference is found between the disinfection efficiencies of the two methods. Overall, the results showed that the application of ClO₂ twice daily provided the most effective means of satisfying the Taiwan EPA guidelines for the indoor air quality of hospital medical wards.

Disinfection performance of chlorine dioxide gas at ultra-low concentrations and the decay rules under different environmental factors

Gaseous chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) is one of the most promising air disinfectants. In this study, an ultra-low concentration of ClO₂ gas (< 1.2 mg/m³) was generated in an office at various levels of humidity and illuminance to investigate the decay law. The disinfection efficiency and metal corrosiveness of ultra-low concentrations of ClO₂ gas were also studied using an experimental chamber. At 48% and 75% humidity, the decay rate constants of ClO₂ gas were 0.0034 min^-1 and 0.0036 min^-1, respectively. The rate of decline of the ClO₂ concentration increased as the humidity of the environment increased. The decay rate constant of ClO₂ gas at an illuminance of 76 lux and 3429 lux was 0.0034 min^-1 and 0.00427 min^-1, respectively; hence, the decay rate increased with increased illumination. At a humidity of 72% and illuminance of 2112 lux, the decay rate constant reached 0.00880 min^-1. The effects of humidity and illuminance on the attenuation of the ClO₂ concentration were strongly synergistic. When the gas concentration was maintained below 0.9 mg/m³, the disinfection rate of ClO₂ on bacteria (P. aeruginosa, V. mimicus and S. aureus) exceeded 99.9%; thus, ClO₂ gas exhibited a high disinfection efficiency. In addition, there was no corrosion to various metals by ClO₂ under the same conditions. Consequently, gaseous ClO₂ at ultra-low concentrations has a high sterilization efficiency and is non-corrosive to metals.

IMPLICATIONS

Humidity and illuminance can influence decay laws of extremely low concentration ClO₂ gas. The gaseous ClO₂ at ultra-low concentrations has a high sterilisation efficiency and is non-corrosive to metals.