공기정화제품에서 미생물 오염도 분석 및 교차오염 방지를 위한 필터의 미생물 억제

Abstract

Many atmospheric pollutants including chemical agents, house dust, and microorganisms were found in indoor environment. These pollutants can cause building-related illnesses through respiration in humans. As a result, indoor air purification was now recognized as an important issue. Improved sterilization and disinfection technologies were constantly being investigated by the medical, food-processing, and air-conditioning industries. This study was conducted to analysis microbial pathogen in air solution products and to develop an effective control method of microbial contaminants for preventing cross-contamination in air solution products. In the beginning of this study, microbial contaminants present in air and air solution products used in home, office and industry were analyzed. Dominant eleven species of microorganisms were isolated and identified in environmental air and air solution products used in this study. Among of them, six species are fungi, one species is yeast and others are bacteria. Among of bacterial species, three genera of bacteria (Staphylococcus sp., Micrococcus sp. and Bacillus sp.) are the most dominant species. It has been known that these bacterial species are closely related with food spoilage and human infectious disease. In order to discover an effective natural agent to control the pathogenic bacteria in air solution products, this thesis evaluated the antibacterial activity of the leaf extract from Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, which was known to possess strong antibacterial activity. A filter containing the leaf extract (10 mg/filter) exhibited strong antibacterial activity against isolated strains from the air solution products. The isolated strains were identified to be Staphylococcus epidermidis, Micrococcus luteus, and Bacillus epidermidis. After the treatment for 60 min in a filter containing Panax ginseng leaf extract, the cell populations of S. epidermidis, B. amyloliquefaciens and M. luteus were reduced about 4-5 log CFU/mL. These results indicate that this study will contribute to develop a green solution using natural antibacterial agents for controlling pathogenic or food spoilage microbial contaminants in air solution products.