In a recent study, researchers tested household materials that could be used to make DIY masks, but they left out one common material—paper towel masks (also called “kitchen paper”). Could paper towel be an effective material for making homemade masks in times of crisis and shortages? Smart Air Engineer Paddy tested its effectiveness in the Beijing lab.
Putting Paper Towel Masks to The Test
Paddy used a Met One GT-521S particle counter to test how well a single and double layer of paper towel filtered out particles down to 0.3 microns. Paddy ran the Met One for one minute, measuring the total number of particles passing through the kitchen paper versus the same setup with no filter.
How Big Are Viruses?
Just how small is 0.3 microns compared to viruses? On average, coronavirus particles measure approximately 0.1 microns in diameter, so 3 times smaller than measured in our test. However, 0.3 microns is an important size to test, because 0.3 micron particles are the most difficult to capture.
The crazy reality is that particles smaller than 0.3 microns are actually easier to capture. Don’t believe us; believe the data. Here’s the science behind it »
Paper Towel Particle Capture
The results weren’t great. A single layer of kitchen paper captured just 23% particles. Adding an extra layer only increased particle capture to 33%.
For larger 2.5 micron particles, paper towel performed better. The single layer of kitchen paper captured 52% of these larger particles.
Update: new data on paper towel masks – we’ve published new data on the effectiveness of paper towels in our Ultimate Guide to DIY masks article. This uses a new and improved testing method, which shows paper towels are more effective than originally thought!
Learn more: The Ultimate Guide to DIY Face Mask Materials →
Do Paper Towel Masks Fit Tight?
One thing this test doesn’t cover is fit effectiveness–how leaky a DIY mask would be. Not surprisingly, masks that fit better will let fewer particles in. That’s one of the reasons why surgical masks score lower on fit tests than N95 masks.
Yet Studies Find Mask Leakage Has Small Effect on Flu Virus Transmission
Although surgical masks (and presumably DIY masks) are more leaky than N95 masks, randomized studies that have tracked infection rates have found that surgical masks are just as effective as N95 masks at preventing the transmission of viruses.
Researchers don’t know the exact reason for this. However, some scientists hypothesize that masks help, in part, because they prevent us from touching our face. That helps keeps us from “planting” viruses our mouth, nose, and eyes.
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Not all paper towels are created equal. There are differences.
I beg to differ. I made paper towel masks with two coffee filters sandwiched in between and not only is it easy to breath through but it filters out more odors than the “non-medical masks” too like frying bacon or the smell of gasoline which tells me that its slightly more effective than the masks that are now widely available for general use.
Has any test done on tissue paper such as Kleenex tissue and etc.
I used Fluke 985 particle counters and tested few materials – coffee filters, cloth mask, cleanroom wipes, tissue, paper napkins (varying degree of quality). The high quality party napkin (the one you get from the dollar store for 20 ~ 25 counts per pack) has the best performance. For particles with size bigger than 2.5 um, it filters them out (the reading is 0). For particles with size of 0.3 micron, I could get > 80% filtration. It is not too shy compared to the surgical mask considering the availability of the materials. For the cloth mask, it is worse… Read more »
If you not sure what type of material you have all you have to do is make your mask and light a lighter in front of your mouth and try to blow , if it shut off isnt good material for a mask ( maybe try to-add layers if only choice) and if your lighter WONt shut off it will be very good fit material mask , I try it & its work …..not all kitchen towel not all t-shirt works the same as researcher claiming some t-shirt nylon or acrylic so the kitchen towel bed quality. Thanks