Antiviral Protein Membranes for Air Purification

Protein based membranes and membrane protein filtration devices have shown outstanding potential in the treatment of water and are already being industrially implemented in the purification of water from a large spectrum of organic and inorganic contaminants. Since the principles of filtering liquids (water) and gases (aerosol) share many common similarities, it is conceivable to expect that the same membrane could also serve in some specific aspects of air treatment. However, to date, treatment and purification of air streams using protein-based membranes has not been considered at all by the international scientific community. Here we propose to use protein-based membranes for the purification of air contaminated by COVID-19 and/or other respiratory viruses, and we aim at establishing a new technology which could ideally serve in the design of membranes for any type of virus inactivation.