Have you ever worn a pollution mask while commuting?

Uni_Student
Uni_Student Posts: 4
edited November 2017 in Commuting chat
Hello! I'm a final year design student at university, for my final year project I'm investigating city air pollution and designing a protective solution for commuters. It would be great if you could spare a bit of time, your knowledge and experiences with your commute and opinions on current wearables and pollution masks available.

If you wouldn't mind filling out a very quick questionnaire it would help my degree massively: https://goo.gl/forms/1Alm2ZDTY5gnz1RD2

Thank you and kind regards.

Comments

  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    In order to be effective against PM10 & PM2.5 it needs to be a close-fitting mask, which will restrict breathing... That ignores the NOx etc that need full on gas filtration. So I'm out.

    The surgeon masks you see in Beijing etc are approximately worthless against PM10/PM2.5 and exactly useless against NOx
  • Uni_Student
    Uni_Student Posts: 4
    Man Of Lard wrote:
    In order to be effective against PM10 & PM2.5 it needs to be a close-fitting mask, which will restrict breathing... That ignores the NOx etc that need full on gas filtration. So I'm out.

    The surgeon masks you see in Beijing etc are approximately worthless against PM10/PM2.5 and exactly useless against NOx

    Yes I agree, thanks for replying - NOx can be filtered with carbon activated materials, to what level I'm not sure. The fit and comfort is probably the biggest issues I've observed.
  • thistle_
    thistle_ Posts: 7,149
    Not a pollution mask, but similar to MoL's comment above I've has to use emergency escape kits a couple of times at work which are close fitting masks with an air supply. Breathing always seems more restricted in them, possibly because of the valves in them?

    Are the surgeon masks just designed to trap aerosol particles that you breathe out (or in) which may have bugs attached to them?
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,662
    If you have a rummage, there are a couple of historic threads on the subject lurking somewhere. There has also been some vaguely rigorous testing done (a few years back, I think) which concluded that all but a couple of products were not very effective. Personally I notice the benefit from my Respro Techno Gold, and it is noticeably filthy after a couple of weeks commuting.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
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  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    Uni_Student wrote:
    Man Of Lard wrote:
    In order to be effective against PM10 & PM2.5 it needs to be a close-fitting mask, which will restrict breathing... That ignores the NOx etc that need full on gas filtration. So I'm out.

    The surgeon masks you see in Beijing etc are approximately worthless against PM10/PM2.5 and exactly useless against NOx

    Yes I agree, thanks for replying - NOx can be filtered with carbon activated materials, to what level I'm not sure. The fit and comfort is probably the biggest issues I've observed.

    According to https://www.okinternational.com/File%25 ... n-list.pdf - NO2 isn't adsorbed at all by activated carbon. Since NO readily oxidises spontaneously into NO2 then NO2 is the biggest NOx you need to filter...

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