Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters

Commercial facemasks have become a common tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are cheap, simple to use and some are capable of filtering out most particles in the air, protecting the user. These qualities are usually employed in relation to hurtful viruses or contaminants, but they could also be...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gutiérrez Álvarez, Isidoro, Celaya González, Santiago, Fuente Merino, Ismael, Quindós Poncela, Luis Santiago, Sáinz Fernández, Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repositorio:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/24312
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24312
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Radon
Radioactive dose
Radon progeny
Facemask
Personal protective equipment
3326 Tecnología Textil
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spelling Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughtersGutiérrez Álvarez, IsidoroCelaya González, SantiagoFuente Merino, IsmaelQuindós Poncela, Luis SantiagoSáinz Fernández, CarlosRadonRadioactive doseRadon progenyFacemaskPersonal protective equipment3326 Tecnología TextilCommercial facemasks have become a common tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are cheap, simple to use and some are capable of filtering out most particles in the air, protecting the user. These qualities are usually employed in relation to hurtful viruses or contaminants, but they could also be used to prevent the radioactive dose due to radon, which is the second leading cause of lung cancer worldwide. For that reason, the main goal of this study is to verify if facemasks could prevent radon decay products from entering the potential user’s lungs. Since these decay products are the main source of radioactive dose, several commercial facemasks were tested by exposing them to radon and then measuring the presence of radon daughters by gamma spectroscopy. Reusable facemasks made from materials such as cotton, polyester or neoprene appeared to be inefficient with only 40% filtering efficiency, Polypropylene woven masks being the only exception, with 80% efficiency. Surgical masks presented filtering efficiencies between 90 and 98%. FFP3 and FFP2 proved to be the most reliable, almost completely filtering out radon daughters with filtering efficiencies up to 98%. Results prove that the use of FFP3 and FFP2 facemasks could be a useful tool to reduce the radioactive dose due to radon in places where other techniques cannot be used or are not advisable.SAGE20242024-01-0120242024-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10272/24312reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelvainstname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/243122026-06-02T14:58:11Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters
title Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters
spellingShingle Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters
Gutiérrez Álvarez, Isidoro
Radon
Radioactive dose
Radon progeny
Facemask
Personal protective equipment
3326 Tecnología Textil
title_short Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters
title_full Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters
title_fullStr Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters
title_sort Evaluation of commercial facemasks to reduce the radioactive dose of radon daughters
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Gutiérrez Álvarez, Isidoro
Celaya González, Santiago
Fuente Merino, Ismael
Quindós Poncela, Luis Santiago
Sáinz Fernández, Carlos
author Gutiérrez Álvarez, Isidoro
author_facet Gutiérrez Álvarez, Isidoro
Celaya González, Santiago
Fuente Merino, Ismael
Quindós Poncela, Luis Santiago
Sáinz Fernández, Carlos
author_role author
author2 Celaya González, Santiago
Fuente Merino, Ismael
Quindós Poncela, Luis Santiago
Sáinz Fernández, Carlos
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Radon
Radioactive dose
Radon progeny
Facemask
Personal protective equipment
3326 Tecnología Textil
topic Radon
Radioactive dose
Radon progeny
Facemask
Personal protective equipment
3326 Tecnología Textil
description Commercial facemasks have become a common tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are cheap, simple to use and some are capable of filtering out most particles in the air, protecting the user. These qualities are usually employed in relation to hurtful viruses or contaminants, but they could also be used to prevent the radioactive dose due to radon, which is the second leading cause of lung cancer worldwide. For that reason, the main goal of this study is to verify if facemasks could prevent radon decay products from entering the potential user’s lungs. Since these decay products are the main source of radioactive dose, several commercial facemasks were tested by exposing them to radon and then measuring the presence of radon daughters by gamma spectroscopy. Reusable facemasks made from materials such as cotton, polyester or neoprene appeared to be inefficient with only 40% filtering efficiency, Polypropylene woven masks being the only exception, with 80% efficiency. Surgical masks presented filtering efficiencies between 90 and 98%. FFP3 and FFP2 proved to be the most reliable, almost completely filtering out radon daughters with filtering efficiencies up to 98%. Results prove that the use of FFP3 and FFP2 facemasks could be a useful tool to reduce the radioactive dose due to radon in places where other techniques cannot be used or are not advisable.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2024-01-01
2024
2024-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24312
url https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24312
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv SAGE
publisher.none.fl_str_mv SAGE
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
instname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
instname_str Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
reponame_str Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
collection Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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