The initiative aims to take the mobile device to hospital environments.
Biotecam, an environmental biotechnology startup, started testing equipment last year to help clean polluted water. The device is a kind of lung for water bodies, such as ponds, lakes and even tanks of effluent treatment plants. The idea is to oxygenate the water and bring life back to a polluted place. For the first test, the chosen point was the lake at Parque Burle Marx, in São Paulo. While the device was submerged, the water started to become more pure, with fish and birds around. Amid the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, the technology will be used to purify the air of places with agglomerations of people contaminated by COVID-19.
How will the equipment work?
There are other devices that perform the same function. The difference is that the solution reduces the energy demand by 50% to get the job done. The idea to clean up the waters was adapted to clean the air and return it to the environment without the coronavirus. The initiative is developed between the Federal Fluminense Institute (IFF), and the Brazilian Industrial Research and Innovation Company (Embrapii).
In summary, the system will absorb air in field hospitals, ICUs or other health units. The material will pass through a reservoir where it will be filtered with a disinfectant solution, which can be made up of bleach. After this cleaning process, the air is oxygenated and returned to the environment. It is estimated that the level of disinfection is above 95%. In an interview with Veja magazine, the director of the IFF innovation pole, Rogério Atem says that the system will not work as a vacuum cleaner, which would suck the virus from solid surfaces, such as door handles and tables. The idea is to reduce the droplets that dissipate in the air and that are clustered in areas of hospital care. There are studies that indicate the suspension of micro droplets in the air for up to 20 minutes.
In conclusion, for a field hospital, the estimated cost to manufacture the equipment is 50.000 reais. As the research is based on a product that was already developed, the perspective is that the initiative will be ready in two months.
