Industrial/Environmental Particulates

Filtering Efficiency Comparisons for Hazardous Environmental Particles

The table below compares of efficiencies of N95 fits, surgical masks and the ION Gaiter challenged with environmentally relevant particle types. The “office air” experiment represents a heterogeneous mixture of airborne contaminants as might be found in workplaces. The ION Gaiter provided filtering efficiencies from 98.0 to 99.9% for all challenge particles. The “Perfect seal” of the N95 gave good but lower overall efficiencies ranging from 92.8 to 99.7%. The N95 “Practical fit” efficiencies ranged from 73.5% to 93.8%. The surgical mask consistently yielded poorest filtrations ranging from 24.3% to 81.8%.

*Filter Device & Fit*	*Challenge Particle*	*% Removal of Particles 0.1µ to 0.5µ in Size*	*% Removal of Particles* *> 1µ to 10***µ
ION Gaiter	Aspergillus niger fungus	99.0	99.2
N95 Perfect seal	“	92.8	93.3
N95 Practical fit	“	80.2	80.0
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	57.2	58.1

ION Gaiter	Penicillium brevi mold	99.8	99.8
N95 Perfect seal	“	94.5	94.5
N95 Practical fit	“	73.5	74.5
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	53.2	55.2

ION Gaiter	Wood ash	99.6	99.7
N95 Perfect seal	“	97.8	98.2
N95 Practical fit	“	79.5	83.5
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	32.7	43.2

ION Gaiter	Talcum powder	99.8	99.9
N95 Perfect seal	“	98.1	98.1
N95 Practical fit	“	77.0	76.6
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	69.8	69.1

ION Gaiter	Tree pollen (mixture oak & pine)	99.8	99.7
N95 Perfect seal	“	99.7	99.6
N95 Practical fit	“	94.3	94.5
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	42.5	43.5

ION Gaiter	Stone cutting dust	99.7	99.8
N95 Perfect seal	“	99.4	99.4
N95 Practical fit	“	91.1	91.3
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	80.1	81.8

ION Gaiter	Cement dust	98.0	98.4
N95 Perfect seal	“	99.0	99.1
N95 Practical fit	“	93.8	93.7
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	Not tested	Not tested

ION Gaiter	Plaster/Dry wall dust	99.4	99.6
N95 Perfect seal	“	99.0	99.1
N95 Practical fit	“	89.6	90.3
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	41.0	43.2

ION Gaiter	Office air	98.3	98.4
N95 Perfect seal	“	96.6	98.2
N95 Practical fit	“	81.7	83.5
Surgical Mask Practical fit	“	24.3	33.2