The A-bios System for Air Purification from Biological Contaminants in the Indoor Environments

A new easy-to-use air purification system called “A-Bios”, based on UVC radiation with the addition of special graphite filters to eliminate traces of ozone, to be used in the indoor environment has been developed in the framework of the EC financed project “An innovative technology, based on UV radiation, to strongly reduce the microbial activity of the air inside the store rooms of the cultural heritage conservation institutes”. The objectives of the research presented in this paper were to evaluate the relative efficiency of the A-Bios air purification system in the abatement of airborne fungal spores’ vitality and to determine the effect of time exposure to A-Bios on the fungal colony forming units (CFU) recovery. Aerobiological monitoring was conducted in the “David Lubin memorial library” of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome before and after operation of the A-Bios system. The results obtained in this research indicate that the difference between fungal airborne concentration data before and after A-Bios treatment is statistically significant, and independent both on the agar type used for spores collection, the sampled air volume and the sampling heights. The ABios device appeared to be a promising tool to lower and to maintain low the risk of microbial contamination in closed spaces, like libraries and other exposing spaces for cultural heritage.