'High-performance COVID-19 killer': UH researchers create filter to 'catch and kill' virus instantly

University of Houston researchers have designed a "catch and kill" heated air filter that can trap the virus responsible for COVID-19, killing it instantly.

The nickel foam air filter was designed by Dr. Zhifeng Ren, the director of the Texas Center of Superconductivity at UH. Ren collaborated with Monzer Hourani, the CEO of Medistar, a Houston-based medical real estate development firm, and other scientists to design the filter. The original concept behind the filter that could eliminate COVID-19 was created by Medistar founder Monzer Hourani. Their unique design was outlined in a paper published in Materials Today Physics.

When researchers conducted tests at Galveston National Laboratory, they discovered that 99.8 percent of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was killed rapidly in a single pass through a filter made from the commercially available nickel foam heated at 392 degrees Fahrenheit.

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“This filter could be useful in airports and in airplanes, in office buildings, schools and cruise ships to stop the spread of COVID-19,” said Ren. “Its ability to help control the spread of the virus could be very useful for society.” Medistar also hopes to introduce a desktop model, capable of purifying the air in an office worker’s immediate surroundings, he said.

Ren added that the Texas Center for Superconductivity was approached by Medistar on March 31, as the pandemic was spreading throughout the United States, for help in developing the concept of a virus-trapping air filter.

UH researchers had determined that the virus could remain in the air for about three hours. Medistar knew the virus can’t survive temperatures, about 158 degrees Fahrenheit, so the researchers collaborated, using a heated filter. By making the filter temperature far hotter, about 200 Celsius, they were able to kill the virus almost instantly.

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A prototype was then designed by a local workshop and first tested at Ren’s lab for the relationship between voltage/current and temperature. It then went to the Galveston lab to be tested for its ability to kill the virus. Ren said it satisfies the requirements for conventional heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Dr. Garrett Peel of Medistar, who collaborated in the filter's design, recommends a phased roll-out of the device, “beginning with high-priority venues, where essential workers are at elevated risk of exposure (particularly schools, hospitals and health care facilities, as well as public transit environs such as airplanes).”

"It's basically a high-performance COVID-19 killer," Peel said. "This is safe and effective. We want to roll this out of Texas first and start deploying them in schools, nursing homes, " Peel said. "This unit could be deployed in 60 days."

Peel hopes that this innovative filter will get the attention of state and national leaders.

"It provides an extra sense of security, knowing that our children and elderly are protected," Peel said. We need our leaders to step up and create private and public partnerships to get this product into our schools and protect our children."

alison.medley@chron.com