Aerosol Science

HEPA Filter History

The original HEPA filter was designed in the 1940s and was used in the ManhattanProject to prevent the spread of airborne radioactive contaminants. It was commercialised in the 1950s, and the original term became a registered trademark and a generic term for highly efficient filters. Over the decades filters have evolved to satisfy the higher and higher demands for air quality in various high technology industries, such as aerospace, pharmaceutical, processing, hospitals, healthcare, nuclear fuels, nuclear power, and electronic microcircuitry (computer chips).

Today, a HEPA filter rating is applicable to any highly efficient air filter that can attain the same filter efficiency performance standards as a minimum and is equivalent to the more recent NIOSH N100 rating.