A new technology that combines the sterilization benefits of ultraviolet light with the bacteria-killing punch of biocides could soon prove to be a breath of fresh air for airline passengers.

AeroMechanical Services Ltd. (AMS) of Calgary is in the process of patenting a new air-scrubbing system that not only helps cleanse the “canned” passenger cabin environment, but acts as a deterrent to dangerous bacteria, fungi and viruses such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

“You’ve got people in an environment you wouldn’t transport cattle in,” says AMS president Darryl Jacobs.

“A lot of the aircraft have nothing right now except a furnace-filter type environment. Some of the newer-generation aircraft have things like HEPA-filters, similar to what’s in your vacuum cleaner. But while they catch a lot of bigger particulates and bugs, they miss the small stuff,” microbes that can actually “grow through” the filter and spread on the other side, he adds.

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
AeroMechanical Services (AMS) president Darryl Jacobs wants to help clear the air on commercial passenger flights.

The stress of modern jet travel, combined with dry recirculated cabin air and occasional hits of coffee or alcohol, can be a damaging brew to the human immune system, says Jacobs, a University of Alberta graduate who is a mechanical engineer and a licensed pilot as well as president of the Alberta Aerospace Association.

AMS (AMA-TSX), a company that provides services to the aviation industry including flight data management, went public earlier this year and joined forces with University of Calgary spinoff company MBEC Biofilm Technologies Ltd. to jointly develop the inline air-sterilization system called AirQ.

U of C microbiology professor Merle Olson says the AirQ method uses ultraviolet light to sterilize ventilation ducts and biocide chemicals lethal to “biofilm” – germs, viruses or fungi that can roost and multiply on surfaces such as seats, armrests and meal trays.

“It’s going to require a number of technologies to get all the different trouble points, but certainly AirQ is going to be one of them,” says Olson, who is chief scientific officer for MBEC, which plans on going public next month.

“We looked at UV light because it’s totally non-toxic. And we’re working at developing certain biocides that are safe and effective to be used in a cabin.”

Recent events including the global SARS outbreak point to the need for airlines to be proactive in stemming the proliferation of new diseases by taking steps to reduce the chance of infection during travel, says Olson.

“I’m a microbiologist, and I find that many issues that have been dealt with (in airline air quality) are engineering issues (versus) microbiological issues. Not until we get together can we start to get things done like this.”

Jacobs says the AirQ system has been in the pipes since 2000, long before SARS emerged as a major health – and economic – threat to airline travel.

The companies studied the air recirculation systems of commercial aircraft for more than a year, discovering up to 150 different airborne pathogens.

“It doesn’t have to be massive diseases like SARS – it could be something as simple as influenza, colds, spores, viruses and bacteria that’s in the aircraft,” Jacobs says.

Unlike other air-quality solutions, AirQ treats rather than filters the air so as not to interfere with the plane’s air flow.

Jacobs envisions the system being utilized when aircraft receive their scheduled maintenance work, so surfaces can be treated and the air-treatment system installed and used on an hourly revenue basis, without large up-front capital costs to cash-strapped carriers.

Although the joint partners are still finalizing patents on the technology, AMS has entered into preliminary discussions with some carriers, including Virgin Atlantic.

“We expect to have a commercial system on an aircraft in the next six to nine months,” Jacobs says.