N95 - KN95 - KF94 - PPF2 - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FILTER RATINGS?

It can be confusing trying to understand medical masks (filter ratings) and all of the acronyms that go into describing them.  It is actually all very simple in that each country has its own abbreviation for describing what is an equivalent to the USA N95 filter.

Here are the various N95 equivalents from other countries around the world:

• N95 (United States NIOSH-42CFR84)
• FFP2 (Europe EN 149-2001)
• KN95 (China GB2626-2006)
• P2 (Australia/New Zealand AS/NZA 1716:2012)
• KF94 (Korea KMOEL - 2017-64)
• DS (Japan JMHLW-Notification 214, 2018)

These filter ratings represent each country's abbreviation for representing their standard for an N95 US equivalent.  The exact requirements behind each country's rating have slight differences but are, for the most part, similar to each other in their requirements.  The ones that you will encounter most often are N95 and KN95 which are the United States and China ratings.

What Exactly is N95?

N95 stands for two things; the "N" stands for "Not Resistant" to oil and the "95" refers to the filtration efficiency of 95%.  It can filter out PM2.5 pollutants at an efficiency rate of 95% and is the most accepted degree of protection that is required to protect against everything from pollen, pollution and virals.  When you breath with an N95 respirator, it filters and removes particles from the air that are breathed through it. These respirators filter out at least 95% of very small PM2.5 (2.5 microns) particles.

N95 masks are capable of filtering out all types of particles and help protect against things such as airborne dust, allergens, smoke, pollution, ash, pollen as well as the spread of oral liquids to mouth and nose