Individual electrocyclone biocollector With HIgh eFFiciency – WHIFF

- theoretical study
- modeling
- system design
- experimental studies
- realization of prototypes

2 prototypes, BT-20 and BT-10 have been developed.

Physical and biological testings will be conducted on the prototypes in order to evaluate their performances.

none for the moment

The emergence of biological threats became a reality, when the world witnessed the Anthrax attacks in 2001. This subsequently led in October, 2001 to the implementation of the Biotox plan (completing the ORSEC plan) of venture management and crisis in the face of such situations.
Biological hazards, like ionising radiation and many chemical hazards cannot be directly detected by human senses and therefore can go unnoticed. Moreover, similar to radioactivity and many chemical hazards, biological hazards rely on the notion of absorbed pathogen dose. Consequently, quickly understanding an individual’s exposure can make the difference between life or death as this knowledge is mandatory to define as earlier as possible the adapted medical countermeasures.
Achieving this requires a continuous, local means of monitoring this exposure at individual level.

Individual biological aerosol collectors integrated for example into clothing of those placed in harms way (i.e. first responders) could permit early discovery of airborne biohazards at the individual level. Periodic reading of these aerosol collectors can then provide evidence of biological incidents that would have been unnoticed or unexpected and lead to appropriate protective actions.

To date, such a device does not exist and in this context, the development of a biological aerosol collector (small and lightweight design) with the appropriate level of performance represents a significant advance in individual protection. Its conception requires the combination of break-trough technologies and knowhow, which has lead to the choice of the different partners in the present consortium: system conception (Bertin Technologies), sample collection (ENSL), and integration into protective clothing (Paul Boyé).

Specifically, this proposal is aimed at the development of electrostatic cyclone systems for improved sampling of airborne contaminates. The final objective of this industrially driven research project is to provide a small, portable and robust device that can be integrated into the suit of first responders’ so that biological aerosol exposure can be assessed during an intervention. The fundamental advantages of cyclone separation and electrostatic precipitation will be used to overcome the short-comings of present day technologies. Specific synergies sought include, increased intrinsic efficiency, higher treatment throughputs, improved pressure-drop profiles and improved energy consumption-effectiveness.