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M ultraviolet “C”-band (UVC) energy can microbial response in an air stream perhaps was only an
kill microbes, degrade organic material, ambition.2,3,4 Today, water, air, and surface disinfection
and have a regenerative and/or restorative effect on the is commonplace, and we can predict what will happen.5
air it irradiates. However, questions Each new year provides a closer
about UVC energy abound. This By FORREST B. FENCL relationship between prediction and
article will attempt to answer those UV Resources outcome.
questions by explaining how UVC Valencia, Calif.
energy works. ORGANIC MATERIALS
UV energy is “well absorbed” by biomatter and
HISTORY OF UVC ENERGY organic compounds, such as, tissue, cellulose, dash-
Since the late 1800s, UVC energy has been used boards, and car tires. Contaminants in HVAC systems
successfully to disinfect both water are composed of these same bio-
and equipment. Its use in air- based and/or organic structures.6
stream disinfection has been Organic-based materials, living
applied since the 1930s, with some or inanimate, are held together
anecdotal success in the 1990s.1 electronically by one or more
During that time, low output of bonds. A “covalent,” or intramole-
inefficient lamps was handicapped cular, bond is characterized by the
further by both hot and cold FIGURE 2. Ionic bonding. sharing of one or more pairs of
moving air, which changes the electrons of mutual attraction7
lamps’ plasma temperature, and thus their mercury- (Figure 1). An “ionic” bond is an electrostatic bond be-
vapor pressure. This further lowered the already-low tween two oppositely charged ions (Figure 2). A weaker
production of photons at the 254-nanometer line. (The bond is the “hydrogen” bond, in which an attraction
“C” band consists of short wavelengths between 200 to exists between two partial-electric charges of opposite
280 nanometers.) polarity. A “chemical” bond is the physical phenomenon
Field lamp-output of chemical species being held together by atoms’ attrac-
testing and micro- tion to each other through sharing and exchanging elec-
H
bial sampling trons or photons (Figure 3). The latter is of importance
were nonexistent to this article and the physics of particle degradation in
or poor at best. general. The good news is that these bonds also exist
The thought of es- within macromolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids,
H C H tablishing today’s and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or microbes.8 There
removing extremely thin layers of corneal tissue without energy out is in compliance for a given tonnage.
damaging adjacent areas. It does not generate heat. Instead, it is about a machine that currently calculates
Instead, it turns tissue into gas and vapor by breaking energy out as 15 tons, but was sold and installed
various bonds. Another laser transmits UV energy originally as a 20-ton machine. A revamp is needed,
through a quartz fiberoptic catheter and turns arterial- starting with the machine’s heat exchanger.
wall plaque and abnormal tissue into gas and vapor This article represents only part of the many reasons
without harming surrounding healthy tissue. 14 for the prominent inclusion of UVC energy in federal
UV-laser ionization radiation disrupts molecular bonds agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and
to disintegrate organic structures through ablation Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, General
(vaporization) rather than scorching.15 Services Administration, and National Institute for Oc-
cupational Safety and Health. They are worthy of men-
CONCLUSION tion. Adding the Department of Defense,
Similarly, low-pressure mercury-vapor Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving
North
lamps used for the inexpensive produc- Ground, Air Force, Army, Navy, Home-
tion of UVC light possess similar energy, land Security, and the space program,
though it is less focused. It can be con- UVC energy deserves major attention.
firmed that we photodisassociate micro- Two ways to assist these efforts would be
bial DNA and then eventually its carcass to support the American Society of Heat-
when we inactivate, kill, or vaporize it.16 If South ing, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
this had not been witnessed firsthand over Engineers’ (ASHRAE’s) Technical Group
the last 100 years, we might struggle over on Ultraviolet Air and Surface Treatment
the process. Let us recall that an HVAC- (TG2.UVAS) committee and the Interna-
coil-style UVC system operates 24 hr a tional Ultraviolet Association (IUVA).
day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, South TG2.UVAS already has been asked to
which cumulatively provides 6 million provide a chapter in the ASHRAE Hand-
microwatt seconds of extremely high-en- book. Additionally, ASHRAE Standard
ergy UV—from only a 1-microwatt 52.2, Method of Testing General Ventilation
source of output—over a 30-day period. Air-Cleaning Devices for Removal Efficiency
Theoretically, this is enough energy to North by Particle Size, and GSA’s UV-test proto-
vaporize a pound of HVACR crud.17 This col are to be modified for adoption into
makes a profound case for a consumer FIGURE 5. Atoms/molecules ASHRAE SPC 185P, Method of Testing
that highly publicized, expensive, custom, of like charges repel. UVC Lights for Use in Air Handling Units
or high-output lamps simply are not or Air Ducts to Inactivate Airborne Microor-
required to get that job done.18 ganisms. IUVA has put forth language for a myriad of
Assumptions abound, but the truth is that science standards for ultraviolet energy.
has not put forth a microbe that totally is resistant to the
destructive effects of UVC energy. Only a few man- REFERENCES
made materials actually can escape it—temporarily at 1) VanOsdell, D. & Foarde, K. (2002, November).
that. The question is how little exposure is required Defining the effectiveness of UV lamps installed in
before irreparable destruction occurs. In other words, circulating air ductwork. Air-Conditioning and Refriger-
the question is not whether UVC energy works, but ation Technology Institute.
where it can be used.19 The list of places is long. Imagine 2) Alpen, E.L. (1990). Radiation Biophysics. Engle-
if every air-handling device of every kind were equipped wood Cliffs, N.J.:Prentice-Hall.
with UVC. The orders of magnitude of inactivated in- 3) Harm, W. (1980). Biological effects of ultraviolet
fectious agents in a unit period of time are far too great radiation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
to fathom. One could only wonder about the reduction 4) El-Adhami, W., Daly, S., & Stewart, P.R. (1994).
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ity or, beyond that, the reduction of maintenance and artificial ultraviolet radiation on staphylococcus aureus.
increase in efficiency it may provide systems so Archives of Microbiology, 161, 82-87.
equipped.20, 21, 22 The potential return of heat-exchange 5) Blatchley, E. (1997). Numerical modeling of UV
efficiency from the inability of organic material to bond intensity: Application to collimated-beam reactors and
or stay bonded together on heat-exchange surfaces may continuous-flow systems. Water Research, 31, 2,205-
be anecdotal for now. But it is not about system energy- 2,218.
efficiency ratio (EER) or that the energy in vs. the 6) March, J. (1992). Advanced organic chemistry: