Catch&Kill - Sustainable low-cost materials for air and water disinfection

Infectious particles, such as bacteria, fungal spores, and viruses, represent a threat to human health and society, and cause large economic losses in numerous value chains, including food and feed processing and storage. Existing measures and tools to reduce contaminants are numerous, but often expensive or limited in their efficiency and/or sustainability. This project aims to develop a new product line based on an innovative concept named Catch & Kill (C&K) that can absorb and inactivate efficiently airborne microorganisms such as pathogenic bacteria and fungi, as well as viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. For that we will systematically study the effect of different qualities and ratios of pyrogenic carbonaceous materials (PCMs) as our main ingredient and other functional additives, and optimize the production process to obtain desired material properties and function. Result will be a C&K material that performs optimally for the reduction of infectious particles from water and air. Using this material, we will subsequently in the project design, manufacture, and test a C&K based prototype air purifier for demonstrating the efficient removal of microbial and viral particles from relevant environments. Product safety of the C&K materials will be assessed and documented, as well as the recyclability of the material in the form of new C&K materials or as fertilizer product. Targeted communication to relevant stakeholder groups will be used to maximize impact and commercialization of the innovation. Our overall vision is a safe, sustainable, low-cost disinfecting material that is applicable in multiple settings and in a wide range of products for air and water disinfection. This project will provide the material know-how from feedstock to microbial response and technical solutions so that it can be made locally. So far, the project has produced several different types of C&K material that have been analysed for physical and chemical properties. In addition, both biological and chemical analyses have been carried out to look at the ability of the material to catch and kill microbes with a focus on viruses. Our results already show a very high antimicrobial effect.

Infectious particles, such as bacteria, fungal spores, and viruses, represent a threat to human health and society, and cause large economic losses in numerous value chains, including food and feed processing and storage. Existing measures and tools to reduce contaminants are numerous, but often expensive or limited in their efficiency and/or sustainability. This project aims to develop a new product line based on an innovative concept named Catch & Kill (C&K) that can absorb and inactivate efficiently airborne microorganisms such as pathogenic bacteria and fungi, as well as viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. C&K is based on the combination of pyrogenic carbonaceous materials (PCMs) with minor amounts of other natural, nano-formulated ingredients into highly porous, photo-catalytic materials. By systematically studying the effect of different qualities and ratios of the key ingredients and key production process parameters on material properties and function, we will develop a C&K material that functions optimally for the reduction of infectious particles from water and air. Based on this achievement, we will design, manufacture, and test a C&K based prototype air purifier for demonstrating the efficient removal of microbial and viral particles from relevant environments. Product safety of the C&K materials will be assessed and documented, as well as the recyclability of the material in the form of new C&K materials or fertilizer product. Targeted communication to relevant stakeholder groups will be used to maximize impact and commercialization of the innovation. Our overall vision is a safe, sustainable, low-cost disinfecting material that is applicable in multiple settings and in a wide range of products for air and water disinfection. The proposed project will provide the material know-how from feedstock to microbial response and technical solutions so that it can be made locally.