Electrostatic precipitation of airborne bio-aerosols

In this study, we report electrostatic precipitation of Escherichia Coli- and Yeast-aerosols in air. The aerosol size distribution and their electrostatic precipitation efficiency are monitored by using an Electrical Low Pressure Impactor. The results indicate that the E. Coil-aerosols are mainly around 0.8 μm in aerodynamic diameter and the Yeast-aerosols are in the range of 1.3–3.1 μm, respectively. At an average electric field of 1 kV/cm, the precipitation efficiencies of E. Coli- and Yeast-aerosols are about 31% and 5%, respectively. They rise to 79% and 71% when the field strength rises to 7.5 kV/cm. For H2O-aerosols, the diameter is about 0.02 μm and the efficiency is almost 100% under the same condition.