Researchers at Drexel University’s C. & J. Nyheim Plasma Institute are modifying an air sterilization system they created to combat the threat of anthrax attacks post-9-11 in hopes it can now help to ward off COVID-19.
“As public health research reveals how the virus can persist and be transmitted through the air in indoor environments, it will become increasingly important for engineers to develop air sterilization technology that can neutralize or remove it,” said Alexander Fridman, PhD, director of the Nyheim Plasma Institute and a professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, who is a leading National Science Foundation-supported effort to develop technology that can neutralize the novel coronavirus. The project, supported by a $200,000 NSF grant, is one of the first to look at how to eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the environment.