Nanofiber Filter Technologies for Filtration of Submicron Aerosols and Nanoaerosols

Nanofiber Filter Technologies for Filtration of Submicron Aerosols and Nanoaerosols covers the nanoaerosols (less than 100 nanometers) to larger submicron aerosols due mostly to pollution, which are present in high number concentration in our surroundings. People are breathing these nanoaerosols daily without being aware of it. Airborne viruses from flu to coronaviruses are also nanoaerosols. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it took a long time for health authorities and the General Public to recognize the airborne transmission mode of the virus. This leads to inadequate protection and ineffective virus control strategies resulting in high infection and death rates. The book cites evidence and observations pointing to the airborne transmission mode of the coronavirus. It also discusses different filtration technologies using nanofibers to capture these aerosols for short-term filtration, where aerosols are trapped in the filter (depth filtration), and long-term filtration, where aerosols are trapped in the growing filter cake (cake filtration). This book provides a good understanding on how nanofibers, which is of size 1/1000 times that of a normal human hair, can effectively filter these tiny aerosols. NFT, organized in four sections – fundamentals, deep understanding, technologies, and application, covering comprehensively on the subject, is a valuable resource for undergraduates and graduates, engineers, researchers and practitioners in related industries.

"It is particularly noteworthy that the book is written very clearly, understandably and in simple language, has a good structural content and can therefore be used not only for scientists, engineers, industrial manufacturers and health professionals, but also well for student teaching at universities.  It should be emphasized that the book contains many calculation examples and lists of questions and the associated answers for the individual chapters, which then makes it easy to understand the content in university lessons. In conclusion, it can be said that this book is particularly relevant at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and can also make a contribution to defeat this disease." --Wilhelm Hoeflinger "I am convinced that Wallace Leung's book will find many readers among experienced researchers, as it organizes knowledge on filtration in nonwoven nanofiber filters at various levels of research needs, and among those researchers who are at the stage of defining their scientific interests. The book can also serve as part of the contents for undergraduate and graduate courses in the aerosol, dispersed system, filtration, and separation in the university as well as a good reference for practicing engineers working in the arena of filtration and air quality." --Leon Gradon

Dr. Wallace Woon-Fong Leung is a Distinguished Research Professor from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He was formerly Chair Professor of Innovative Products and Technologies (2005-2020) and founder and Director of Research Institute of Innovative Products and Technologies (2005-2011) in the same University. He has worked in filtration and separation for 45 years both in industry in the US and academia in Hong Kong from membrane filtration, sedimentation, vacuum filter, centrifugation, air filtration, and photocatalytic oxidation. He has 52 US patents, single-authored 3 books, several handbook chapters, and over 80 SCI papers. He has trained many engineers and graduated 9 PhD students. He is a fellow respectively of AICHE, ASME, AFS, HKIE, and Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. He is the Chairman of International Delegation on Filtration, 2016 – 2022, with 13 member countries worldwide and Chairman of the 9th and 13th World Filtration Congress in 2004 and 2022, respectively. He received his BSc from Cornell, and both SMME and ScD from MIT. In 2015, he has received the Frank Tiller Award for his lifetime contribution in engineering and education on filtration and separation technologies by the American Filtration and Separations Society.Dr. Leung is also a multidisciplinary engineer, scientist, and educator with international academic and industrial experiences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has deployed his invented nanofiber technologies in mass production of highly protective, highly breathable facemasks for the public railroad.