HEPA high efficiency particulate air or high efficiency particulate arresting
A HEPA filter must satisfy certain levels of efficiency. Common standards require that a HEPA air filter must remove—from the air that passes through—at least 99.95% (ISO, European Standard) or 99.97% (ASME, U.S. DOE) of particles whose diameter is equal to 0.3 μm, with the filtration efficiency increasing for particle diameters both less than and greater than 0.3 μm. HEPA filters capture pollen, dirt, dust, moisture, bacteria (0.2–2.0 μm), viruses (0.02–0.3 μm), and submicron liquid aerosol (0.02–0.5 μm).