Terrorist attacks and possible industrial disasters may result in release of toxic aerosols. Such toxic and hazardous aerosols must be promptly neutralized or, at least, settled. Here we suggest that powdery nanosorbents should be atomized into a space contaminated with a harmful aerosol, in which case electric charge can enhance the sorption capacity of the nanopowders. For the sorption of harmful aerosol particles, we propose to electrostatically atomize a sorbent nanopowder whose particles will eventually acquire electrostatic charge. These charged particles attract and collect on their surface fine opposite-charged or electroneutral particulates (droplets) from the air or room surfaces. Here we consider a physico-mathematical model for the electrostatic coagulation of aerosol particles and compare calculated and experimental data.
aerosol, electrostatic charge, coagulation, nanosized sorbent