Air Filtration for Hospitals
September 10, 2024, Tuesday
8:00am-10:00am, ET Canada & US
$USD 350
$USD 175 (Member Only)
Course Objective
This course provides a comprehensive overview of air filtration criteria and practices for hospital-built environments. Participants will:
Explore common contaminants that challenge installed air filters and learn about filter performance, selection, installation, and stages of filtration, including the processes associated with particle loading and filter clogging.
Understand how climate and operational conditions affect filter performance and the appropriate maintenance measures for filter replacement and disposal.
Gain practical knowledge in measuring, monitoring, and managing air quality to safeguard the health and safety of patients, healthcare workers, visitors, and HVAC equipment.
The course will also cover recent updates on filtration standards, ongoing developments, filtration challenges, and future trends in healthcare facilities.
Course Outline
Air Filtration Requirements and Principles for Hospitals (Dr. Iyad Al-Attar)
History
Filter Design, Stages & Classes
Filtration Processes & Stages
Filter performance & Operational conditions
Particle loading and clogging
Maintenance
Air Quality Measurement
Industrial Practices, In-Situ Filter Testing, and Compliance (Mr. Stephen Nicholas)
Air filter selection for hospitals
HVAC Maintenance considerations
Measure, Monitor, and Manage Your HVAC Air Filtration System
Latest Updates regarding Air Filtration in Hospital Settings
New Developments, Opportunities and Trends for Healthcare Facilities
Pathogen Disinfection & Particulate Control (Mr. Nick Agopian)
Control of Gas-Phase (Chemical) Contaminants for Hospital (Mr. Chris Muller)
Q&A and Panel Discussion
Instructor Biography
Dr. Iyad Al-Attar
Instructor
Dr. Al-Attar, WTI Strategic Director, is a mechanical engineer and an independent air filtration consultant. He is also a Visiting Academic Fellow in the School of Aerospace, Transport, and Manufacturing at Cranfield University, consulting for air quality and filter performance relevant to land-based gas turbines. In 2020, EUROVENT Middle East appointed Dr. Al-Attar as the first associated consultant for air filtration affairs. Dr. Al-Attar received his engineering degrees (BSc, MSc, PhD) from the University of Toronto (Canada), Kuwait University, and Loughborough University (UK), respectively. His area of expertise focuses on the design and performance of high-efficiency filters for HVAC and land-based gas turbine applications, particularly on the chemical and physical characterization of airborne particles. As a climate advocate and environmental enthusiast, he is currently very active in researching sustainable urban development and climate change with several academic institutions, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School. Dr. Al-Attar is a columnist in the EUROVENT Middle East newsletter, Climate Control Middle East Magazine, and ES Engineering, USA. He has authored many articles on air filter design, performance, particle characterization, and climate change. Dr. Al-Attar is an editorial member/referee in the Filtration Society (UK) and the Journal of Cleaner Production.
Mr. Stephen Nicholas
Instructor
Mr. Nicholas has been involved in the HVAC air filtration industry since 1984. He possesses extensive experience in field operations, including plant and facility maintenance, engineering, and manufacturing. He is a past president of the National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) and a Certified Technician Level II for Bag-In/Bag-Out HEPA Filter installations. Additionally, he is a certified Testing, Adjusting, and Balancing Technician and a Commercial Building HVAC Systems and Air Filter Specialist. Mr. Nicholas has been professionally trained by the Harvard School of Public Health in certifying 99.97% HEPA Filters In-Place for both nuclear and non-nuclear applications. He has authored several technical articles on air filtration and ventilation and has served on various ASHRAE National Committees. His contributions have been recognized with Distinguished Service Awards from both ASHRAE and NAFA.
Mr. Nicholas continues to be active in the industry as a field test expert, supporting public health in settings such as hospitals and schools. He also remains an influential professional member of NAFA and a Life Member of ASHRAE.
Mr. Nick Agopian
Panelist
Mr. Nick Agopian is President of Reviveaire, USA. With 30+ years of Filtration, HVAC & energy-recovery experience, Nick focuses on Indoor Air Quality and improving the human condition indoors. Nick’s has held executive positions of VP for various businesses like Circul-Aire, Dectron Internationale, President and General Manager at SEMCO, a Fläkt Woods company, and Vice President at RenewAire. Nick is highly involved with ASHRAE,where he sits on numerous technical committees, such as ASHRAE 62.1 & 62.2, ASHRAE Position Document - Human Health and Wellness in the Built Environment, TC 2.3, SPC 145P, TRG4.IAQP, TG 9, etc. He’s also served on a special board for filtration part of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors for the Missouri Innovation Center’s Life Sciences Business Incubator, Board of the local Chamber of Commerce, and Chairman of the Board for the Home Ventilating Institute.
A committed lifelong learner, Agopian’s undergrad was in Mechanical Systems Engineering from Vanier, Quebec, Canada, and an International M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Panelists
Mr. Chris Muller, ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer, Director IEQ Technical Services of AAF Flanders, is recognized globally as an expert in indoor/environmental air quality, filtration and enhanced air cleaning systems, and gas-phase air filtration technology with demonstrated competencies in product development and applications. With more than 30 years in the filtration industry, he has written and spoken extensively on these and related topics with more than 250 articles and peer-reviewed papers, more than 150 seminars, and 8 handbooks to his credit. He has been a driving force on multiple industry association and technical committees, improving awareness and standards in the industry, especially in the field of gas-phase air filtration and indoor environmental air quality. He co-authored ASHRAE’s Position Document on Filtration and Air Cleaning, ASHRAE Guideline 42P: Indoor Air Quality in Commercial and Institutional Buildings, and ASHRAE Standard 62.1 User’s Manual.
Dr. Mehdi Shirmohammadi, R&D manager of Termeh Mask Co. Iran. Dr. Shirmohammadi has more than 20 years of experience (academic and industrial) in air filtration systems and respiratory masks. Mehdi is a recognized expert in textile fibers, high-efficiency filter media, and antibacterial adsorbents, involved in co-leading standard development committees at the ISIRI in writing standards for respiratory masks. During his air purification research, he worked through the chain of air cleaning processes from polymers, textile fibers, filter media, filter elements, filtration systems, testing instruments, and standardization. He has been focused on antimicrobial adsorber filter media since 2010 and has some patents and publications. Mehdi received his Ph.D. in Textile (chemistry and fibers sciences) from IAU, Iran. He is a Certified Filtration and Separation Specialist (CFSS) for air filtration, awarded as WFI’s Student of the Year in 2022.
Ms. Kathleen Owen, Ms. Owen, ASHRAE Fellow and Distinguished Lecturer, is an expert in air filter/cleaner efficiency/efficacy testing and test method development with Owen Air Filtration Consulting. She recently completed ASHRAE projects conducting Interlaboratory Studies (aka Round Robins) on the ASHRAE 52.2 and 145.2 methods for testing particle and gas-phase air cleaner efficiencies and an ASHRAE project on reactive air cleaners. During her 33 years at RTI, she ran the air cleaner test lab for 20 years and worked on the ASHRAE and US EPA projects that developed ASHRAE air cleaner efficiency test methods 52.2 (for particles), 145.2 (gases), and 185.1 (UV-bioaerosol). She ran ASHRAE 1360-RP and worked on many ASHRAE and EPA projects on air cleaning and air quality including the recent EPA EIP on air cleanup in VI situations. She also developed chamber test methods for gases and bioaerosols based, in large part, on the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) CADR test method. She is the current chair of ASHRAE SPC 185.5 and is past chair of both ASHRAE committee SSPC 145 and 52.2. She was the research subcommittee chair for TC2.3 Gaseous Contaminants. She is currently a member of SSPC 241, EHC, Standards and multiple TCs as well as the US TAG to ISO 142.
Dr. Jenny Berens, Director, Filter Engineering, Freudenberg Filtration Technologies, North America, is a Chemical Engineer with a M.Sc. in Heat and Mass Transfer from Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Stockholm, Sweden and a Ph.D. in Nanotechnology from the University of Kentucky, USA. She has 20 years of experience in R&D working for various Fortune 500 companies in roles such as hardware component owner, materials expert, laboratory and quality engineering process developer, and as team and project leader.
In early 2017, Dr. Berens is responsible for regional product development, product & application engineering, VA/VE efforts, and internal and well as public education regarding filter science. Dr. Berens is a voting member on and the Secretary of the ASHRAE SSPC 52.2 committee, among other ASHRAE memberships and functions. She is also involved in the global filtration science community as a voting member representing filter producers in the US TAG to ISO/TC 142 on Advisory Panels 3, 4, and 7. Additionally, she supports the research carried out under ISO/CD 10121-3.