# Impact of Airborne Heavy Metals on Lung Disease and the Environment

> **NIH NIH P42** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2020 · $112,393

## Abstract

Our current P42 project (Project 5) deals with natural and recycled fiber materials for filtration targeted
toward soil remediation. This supplemental funding request (for Project 5) directly addresses the needs of the
growing COVID-19 pandemic, with the base theme of natural fibers as filtration media for personal protection.
The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic exponentially increases the risk to the P42 community not only
from the soil/air contamination with particulate matter and heavy metals, but now the added risk of the virus.
Providing low cost reusable and biodegradable personal protection equipment (PPE) solutions to the community
will be of immense value. One of the most needed items are PPE masks not only for the health care provider
but the public at large. There is growing use of masks of all make ups and configurations, and their use is going
to multiply exponentially. The various federal briefings have emphasized the need for a mask for every person,
and over 500 million masks could be worn on daily basis world-wide. Hundreds of millions of N95 masks are in
production and use worldwide. For the most part, these are disposed after single use (2-3 times at the most)
which will result in gigantic quantities in landfill. This will result in massive detrimental environmental implications
for years to come. In this project we propose innovative yet practical science to develop natural fiber (biobased)
biodegradable filter materials that will meet the NIOSH standards for N95 filter efficiency (FE). The biobased
solution is based on sub-micron regenerative cellulose natural fibers (RNCF) and small amounts of textile grade
carbon fiber (TCF) that will be designed for turboelectric charging that impart the interaction to capture and kill
the virus(es). The RNCF based filter material will be equally effective in lieu (or complement) of the synthetic
polypropylene (PP) based 2 µm diameter, 50 grams per square meter (gsm) filter materials (not biodegradable)
currently used in the N95 masks. The work will deliver a tangible full concept to product solution for implementing
the RNCF material in reusable masks that the team is already developing. The entire solution will be
environmentally friendly, safe and will meet NIOSH standards. The materials developed in this project will be
tested against the NIOSH 42 CFR 84 for a minimum 95% filtration efficiency against solid and liquid aerosols
that do not contain oil. The product will be disseminated to the P42 ecosystem including the health care providers
and the community. The feedback from these groups will be sought in the form of surveys, questionnaires,
training and the data will be statistically analyzed and become a part of the main P42 grant. The project is
collaborative between The University of Tennessee (UT), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), University of
Alabama at Birmingham and the P42 community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10263534
- **Project number:** 3P42ES027723-01A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Veena B. Antony
- **Activity code:** P42 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $112,393
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-16 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10263534

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10263534, Impact of Airborne Heavy Metals on Lung Disease and the Environment (3P42ES027723-01A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10263534. Licensed CC0.

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