Efficacy of a Novel Personal Nasal Sampler (PNS) in Capturing Particles and Viruses

TAEWON HAN, Gediminas Mainelis, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

     Abstract Number: 300
     Working Group: Aerosol Exposure

Abstract
We recently developed a novel personal sampling concept for determining personal exposures to airborne microorganisms: a personal nasal sampler (PNS). PNS was designed by applying an electrospun nanofiber filtration approach: a thin coat of electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF or P(VDF-TrFE) polymer nanofibers was laid over a conventional non-woven microfibrous base to form a hybrid filter (HF). The sampler with HRF attaches to a user's nostrils and utilizes the person's breathing to capture airborne infectious agents, directly measuring actual personal exposure to those agents. First, we optimized the new HF and, after multiple iterations, settled on a version where PVDF nanofibers are electrospun over a pulmonary test filter (PTF). This optimized HF showed collection efficiency of over 90% for a wide range of particle sizes (10 nm-10 µm) when tested with sodium chloride aerosol. We further investigated the collection efficiency of single versus multiple-layered HFs with NaCl and bacteriophage Phi6, a popular surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. The RNA of the collected virus was extracted using TRIzol (Thermo Fisher Scientific Co.) per the manufacturer's protocol. Extracted RNA was quantified by determining the absorbance at 260 nm using a NanoDrop spectrophotometer.

The newly developed PNS with double-layered HFs showed a collection efficiency of 98% compared to the efficiency of 92% of a single-layer HF at 5 L/min per 13 mm filter; however, the quality factor (QF), which integrates the filtration efficiency and pressure drop, showed that a single-layer HF had 1.8× better overall performance. When testing with the Phi6 virus, we achieved collection efficiency of 98% at 5 L/min and 80% at 10 L/min. In ongoing tests, the PNS is installed on a mannequin and operated in different occupational environments. The presented sampler concept shows promise in determining personal exposures to viral particles.