Researchers from the University at Buffalo claim a new technology can safely and inexpensively clear offices or buildings of airborne biological agents in minutes instead of months.

The device, called BioBlower, can sanitize a reasonably sized office in less than a minute, said Jim Garvey, University of Buffalo professor of chemistry and co-inventor of BioBlower. That's impressive, when you consider the three months it took to clean up the Hart Senate Office Building after anthrax was detected there in October 2001.

BioBlower has immediate first responder and homeland security applications, with the potential to eradicate a wide range of biological pathogens, such as anthrax, smallpox, SARS, influenza, tuberculosis and other toxic airborne species.

The system destroys pathogens by rapidly heating contaminated air and could be employed either as a portable air-purification unit for first responders at the site of a biological attack or installed as a permanent part of a building's air-handling system to be activated as soon as biological toxins are detected.

“This machine works on the principle of ‘heat kills,’” Garvey said. “If you have bugs in water you boil it. Same idea with sterilizing air. If you can heat air to a high enough temperature — in this case 200°C — you can basically kill anything biological, including anthrax spores, tuberculosis or small pox.”

The researchers used a commercially available Roots blower, a mechanical air-pump technology that's existed for more than 100 years and has been used variously in vacuum pumps and funny car turbochargers. They modified it so that as air passes through the blower, it is compressed and instantaneously heated before being ejected at the rate of hundreds of cubic feet per minute.

In addition to homeland security applications, BioBlower also could provide a continuous clean air supply in hospitals, military command centers and other battlefield facilities.

The researchers believe the invention represents a quantum leap ahead of conventional technology. HEPA paper filters, currently widely used to trap large airborne spores, need to be changed frequently, stored care-full, and subsequently destroyed.

“With our device, there are no filters to change and very minimal maintenance,” Garvey said. “BioBlower indiscriminately destroys all airborne biotoxins via extreme heating of the air.”

In tests recently performed by scientists in the university's Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Calspan — University of Buffalo Research Center, BioBlower successfully destroyed more than 99.9% of aerosolized spores of a benign anthrax simulant, Bacillus globicii, in a single pass.

“[Bacillus globicii] spores are considered the gold standard for biotesting,” Garvey said. “Now that we can completely eliminate these hardy bacteria, we can kill any and all airborne biological toxins.”

BioBlower might even work for chemical nerve agents and toxic industrial chemical spills, although “to destroy chemicals, heat isn't enough,” Garvey said. “You need a catalyst.”

Catalytic converters exist on the market that reduce toxic chemical compounds down to the native oxides, but they only work if the gas is hot.

“So, if you take BioBlower and put a catalytic converter in front of it, now you have a universal device that not only kills biological species but also chemical toxins as well,” Garvey said.

The university has filed for a provisional patent on BioBlower and is negotiating a licensing arrangement with B3, a Buffalo company that its developers have formed to commercialize it.