An Empirical Evaluation of the COTS Air Pollution Masks in a Highly Polluted Real Environment

Air pollution levels have been increasing at an alarming rate for the past few years. The concentration of particulate matter in the air in Delhi has increased by 66% in last ten years. Increased levels of pollution are causing health hazards. It is high time to sensitize people about the quality of air they are breathing in. The need of the hour is to make people aware of different methods to protect themselves from pollution. Using respiratory masks, is one of them. However, just using the respiratory mask does not solve the problem. People need to be made aware of which respiratory mask to choose and also about proper techniques of using it, to achieve optimum protection. In this paper, an analysis of three Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) N-series masks is provided. In addition to these respiratory masks, Honeywell Anti PM 2.5 and handkerchief are also included in the study, which are the low-cost substitutes. These masks are visibly available and used by a large number of people. The filtration capacity of masks is examined both in ideal condition and when wrapped around an emulated human face. To stress-test the respiratory masks, all the experiments were performed when the pollution was at the peak in a day. Results show that all the masks provide good protection against pollution when used in ideal condition, but failed to provide the same level of protection when they were used around an emulated face. The proper facial fit of the mask emerged out as an essential factor for the proper filtration of particulate matter. Moreover, durability test on masks was also performed. This test gave insight into how frequently should one replace the old used mask with a new one.