Collection and Detection of Airborne Microorganisms by Combining Electrostatic Precipitation With IR Spectroscopy

A novel reagentless system for detecting airborne microorganisms and biowarfare agents is proposed (patent pending) in this paper. The system is capable of collecting and concentrating airborne agents using electrostatic precipitation (ESP), and presenting the sample to an IR spectrometer for detection. The ESP collector module is designed to provide high collection efficiencies while optimizing optical throughput matching with the concentrated sample to achieve very low detection limits. Specifically, our study shows that by measuring the amide I absorption band at 1650 cm^-1 that is associated with bacterial spores, the ESP-IR collection and detection system would be capable of detecting approximately 8300 spores/l in 10 min.