Evaluation of Transmittance of Ultraviolet Radiation (C Band) for Disinfection

User Benefits

- Investigation of UV transmittance in the UV-C wavelength region (<280 nm) is useful in selecting suitable packaging materials for UV disinfection of viruses. - Virus disinfection time can be estimated from the UV-C transmittance by using “Advanced formula” of the photometric function of LabSolutions^TM UV-Vis.

Introduction

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is classified as A band (315 to 400 nm), B band (280 to 315 nm), or C band (<280 nm) according to its wavelength. UV wavelengths of 254 nm or 222 nm, which are classified as the C band (UV-C), are used in disinfection of viruses by UV radiation. As advantages of UV disinfection, noncontact disinfection is possible, treatment of a waste solution is not necessary, and there is no risk of contamination by way of chemicals. On the other hand, it is necessary to pay attention to the following problems when using UV disinfection: the UV radiation emitted from the light source may be blocked by the light source encapsulant of the UV germicidal lamp or the packaging material of the disinfectant object, then the irradiation intensity may become weaker than expected. For this reason, the transmittance property in the UV-C band region is one important evaluation value for all materials related to UV disinfection. In this article, the transmittance of general packaging materials in the UV-C band region was evaluated by using a Shimadzu UV- Vis spectrophotometer. In addition, this article also introduces a method for estimating the disinfection time for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 considering the transmittance of the packaging material by using the photometric function of LabSolutions UV-Vis.

November 26, 2021 GMT