Zentek Announces Final Results of HVAC Phase 2 Testing

GUELPH, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 6, 2023 / Zentek Ltd. ("Zentek" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:ZTEK)(TSX-V:ZEN), an intellectual property development and commercialization company, is pleased to announce, further to its press releases dated April 11 2022 and December 15, 2022, that it has received the final report for Phase 2 testing of ZenGUARD™ for use in Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning ("HVAC") filtration from the National Research Council of Canada ("NRC"). ZenGUARD™-treated MERV 8 filters achieved 34.56% filtration efficiency of the Phi6 virus, a surrogate for COVID-19 during a single air exchange. This compares to 7.24% for uncoated MERV 8 filters, a 27.32% net improvement.

"We believe our patented technology platform, ZenGUARD™, is a disruptive technology for the HVAC industry, giving us the ability to help filter manufacturers significantly increase pathogen filtration efficiency of the most commonly used air filters. The ZenGUARD™ technology is a simple and practical way to improve one of the biggest problems facing workspaces, planes, trains, buses and other indoor spaces: indoor air quality. Many building and transportation system owners and operators do not have the ability or desire to bear the financial costs of upgrading to higher rated filters and HVAC systems. Additionally, avoiding the increased energy consumption and maintenance costs associated with higher rated filters provides a strong environmental and economic incentive, further supporting the ZenGUARD™ value proposition," said Greg Fenton, CEO of Zentek. "For these reasons, we believe our patented ZenGUARD™ technology has the potential to not only protect people's health by removing more pathogens from the air we breathe, but to do so in a way that reduces financial burden and environmental footprint."

Phase 2 Testing

Testing was conducted in NRC's unique bioaerosol facility, a purpose-built 173.3 m³ (6,120 ft³) modular room intended to simulate a real-world classroom environment. The testing used Cystovirus Phi 6, a surrogate for enveloped viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. Importantly, the particle size distribution used for this study was representative of the size distribution expelled from the human respiratory tract (Morawska et al 2009) where 85% were in the E1 classification (0.3-1 micron) and 15% were in the E2 category (1-3 microns) and were at a concentration in line with ASTM E3273-21 - Standard Practice to Assess Microbial Decontamination of Indoor Air using an Aerobiology Chamber. MERV 8 filters were not designed to capture particles this size, which is reflected in their low 7.24% filtration efficiency. In contrast, the ZenGUARD™ technology had a meaningful effect on the viral filtration efficiency of the MERV 8 filter, increasing the efficiency by almost 5 times to 34.56% in a single air exchange.