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Nickel Foam Filter news
Dec. 9th, 2020 08:55 amBack in July, there was an article about this, and a lot of follow up coverage (I think I totally missed it, which is sad, but oh well!).
It is now _in use_ which is awesome.
https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/virus-killer
It is a plug-and-play filter (so you have to have an HVAC system that uses filters of the right sort, but if it does, then you do not need to do anything expensive, just put this thing in apparently; there either are or are plans to create desktop versions as well) made out of nickel foam which is heated — it destroys virus rather than just trapping it, which is nice, because otherwise changing that filter would require a lot of PPE and good technique.
And it is currently in use! Super exciting. Also works on anthrax and I bet a bunch of other stuff, too.
I’ve been saying for months what we need is a science and engineering approach to making shared air safe, the way we once figured out how to make water safe. We did not vaccine our way out of every disease in our water; we freaking got the disease out of the water. (Yes, Dear Reader, I know we also vaccines for some water-borne diseases!) I am glad to see some additional progress is being made here and honestly this seems a lot less fraught than UV approaches.
It is now _in use_ which is awesome.
https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/virus-killer
It is a plug-and-play filter (so you have to have an HVAC system that uses filters of the right sort, but if it does, then you do not need to do anything expensive, just put this thing in apparently; there either are or are plans to create desktop versions as well) made out of nickel foam which is heated — it destroys virus rather than just trapping it, which is nice, because otherwise changing that filter would require a lot of PPE and good technique.
And it is currently in use! Super exciting. Also works on anthrax and I bet a bunch of other stuff, too.
I’ve been saying for months what we need is a science and engineering approach to making shared air safe, the way we once figured out how to make water safe. We did not vaccine our way out of every disease in our water; we freaking got the disease out of the water. (Yes, Dear Reader, I know we also vaccines for some water-borne diseases!) I am glad to see some additional progress is being made here and honestly this seems a lot less fraught than UV approaches.