Concentrated Contamination Capture is the Route to Cost Effectiveness

ICS is Active in Europe as Well as the U.S. with Certification Services

JABIL Delivering Three Ply Surgical Masks from Memphis Facility

American Surgical Mask Producing Up to 150,000 Surgical Masks per Day

Lanaco is and is Not Sheepish About Their Filters

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Concentrated Contamination Capture is the Route to Cost Effectiveness

There are two ways to battle COVID: avoidance and or capture. Avoidance involves lockdowns and social distancing and should be minimized if capture will provide the same level of safety.  Capture can very cost effective  depending on the degree of  Concentrated Contaminant Capture (CCC)

The cost of capture is a function of the amount of air treated and not the amount of contamination removed So the goal is CCC.

The ultimate in diluted capture is the cleanroom. If you have an entire ceiling of HEPA filters and you blow air through them and then provide a perforated floor to insure all contaminants flow down and out, then that may be all you need.  But keep in mind that the Class 100  cleanroom cost is typically $1000/ft2. But even with all this filtered air it is recognized that people shed millions of skin particles as well as potential viruses and therefore all the cleanroom personnel have more PPE than would a surgeon.

It is well recognized that once contaminants are dispersed it is very costly to filter them. The reason is simple. Cost is a function of the amount of air processed and not the amount of contaminants removed. A mask can eliminate all the COVID-19 generated by the wearer and handle less than 1 cfm and a total cost of a few dollars.

If a localized capture device such as the Nederman extraction arm, described today in Coronavirus Technology Solutions, is utilized, most of the contaminant is captured with less than 100 cfm.

A room air purifier in the bedroom of an infected person can remove as much contaminant with 500 cfm as would a house HVAC system with 5,000 cfm.

If both transmitter and recipient are wearing efficient masks then other measures such as social distancing become minor by comparison. All the controversy over occupancy rates is better served focusing on mask efficiency including penetration and leakage. There is a direct numerical relationship between occupancy rate and mask effectiveness. If people wear masks which are 60% effective and the occupancy rate is 60% the risks is the same as with people wearing 90% effective masks and the occupancy rate is 90%.

 

ICS is Active in Europe as Well as the U.S. with Certification Services

ICS Laboratories is a leading source for accredited third-party conformity assessment of respiratory protective equipment. ICS tests respirators, filters, cartridges and their many associated devices and accessories to a wide range of US (NIOSH), European (EN) and Australian (AS/NZS) standards. Their capabilities are extensive and range from disposable half-mask filtering face piece respirators to specialized equipment designed to protect against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear respiratory hazards (CBRN).

Within the European Union, regulations mandate that personal protective products be CE-certified before they can legally be placed on the market. ICS Laboratories is a complete resource for any manufacturer seeking to attain CE certification in order to sell their protective equipment in the United Kingdom or Europe. ICS’ facilities and personnel enable it to offer the most competitive prices and lead times for the requisite EN and ISO tests that must support CE certification for PPE. Beyond the utmost quality test work and the associated endorsed reports, ICS Labs truly makes CE-certification a turn-key service for their clients, coordinating documentation and facilitating assembly and review of the final technical file.

ICS Laboratories is accredited to perform conformity assessments on a wide range of Category 2 and Category 3 PPE according to EN and ISO product standards and test methods. ICS has cultivated a working relationship with CCQS UK, a premier certification organization. CCQS is a registered European Notified Body and is positioned to efficiently process CE certifications for products that are tested by ICS Labs. They maintain contacts throughout the world, and operate an office in the Republic of Ireland, enabling hassle-free processing CE-mark processing with regard to the Brexit narrative.

Working together, ICS Laboratories and CCQS offer an integrated resource for personal protective equipment manufacturers working to comply with EU PPE Regulation 2016/425. Both organizations are accredited and internationally recognized as experts at their respective functions: conformity assessment and product certification. ICS not only has expertise in protective equipment testing, but through decades of experience, has also attained familiarity with certification programs and schemes over the world. Their alliances with highly competent organizations means that their CE-certification customers receive valuable information and attentive support through the certification process.

 

JABIL Delivering Three Ply Surgical Masks from Memphis Facility

Jabil announced that together with its subsidiary medical device company, NP Medical, Inc., the company is ready to deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) orders of medical-quality, FDA-cleared, made in USA face masks, directly and reliably sourced through Jabil’s U.S.-based operations in Memphis, Tennessee. As a GSA-Schedule holder, Jabil is positioned to quickly support the mask mandate recently issued by President Biden, requiring individuals to wear masks on federal property as well as on planes, trains, buses and at airports.

“Our work with local and state governments to fulfill high-volume orders of PPE made in the USA means the general population can get access to these highly effective masks,” said Charlie Main, senior vice president of business development, Jabil. “Designed to meet the stringent protection requirements of operating room personnel, general healthcare workers and their patients, these masks are ideal for protecting employees and complying with the mask mandate.”

The NP Medical nPro™ single-use, disposable, FDA-cleared three-ply surgical masks provide excellent protection and are designed to meet ASTM F2100-19 Level 1 requirements, providing over 99% Sub-micron Particulate (PFE) and Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (BFE). The masks feature elastic ear loops, an adjustable nose wire and vertically adjustable pleats to ensure a snug and comfortable fit.

“Jabil, like so many manufacturers in America, has stepped up to the challenges of the pandemic, including shifting U.S. facilities to mask and PPE production, for which there is much demand,” said National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons.

Jabil is offering these masks as a directly sourced, reliable supply of PPE for large orders.

Jabil is a manufacturing solutions provider with over 260,000 employees across 100 locations in 30 countries. The world's leading brands rely on Jabil's unmatched breadth and depth of end-market experience, technical and design capabilities, manufacturing know-how, supply chain insights and global product management expertise.

 

American Surgical Mask Producing Up to 150,000 Surgical Masks per Day

Company CEO Matt Brandman recently provided insights to the media about the  masks made locally in the Tampa Bay area.

“American Surgical Mask is a U.S. based 3-ply mask manufacturer based in Tampa, FL. The company currently operates a 10,000 square foot facility producing over 150,000 ASTM Level 1 masks per day.

Their 3-Ply disposable surgical masks are manufactured in Tampa, Florida with US sourced materials. Their executive and management team is highly diverse and minority.  Their ownership is highly diversified and consists of professionals with experience in medical, energy, construction and the food/beverage industries.

Their state-of-the-art 10,000 sf manufacturing facility has been upgraded to house up to eight automated machines that are each capable of producing over 80 masks a minute. Their facility follows the strictest guidelines of the CDC to protect their employees and their families in this pandemic environment.

 

Lanaco is and is Not Sheepish About Their Filters 

A New Zealand Company touts the benefits of  sheep’s wool with strong electrostatic charges.  Lanaco makes several types of masks with varying efficiencies.

The WAIRE™ P2 respirator mask must be fitted and adjusted correctly to your face to provide the intended protection. 

 

·         WAIRE™ P2 can also be used in certain applications against some bio-aerosols, such as COVID and FLU virus. Helps protect against airborne biological particles - Fluid resistant (120 mm Hg synthetic blood resistance)

·         Lightweight construction for added comfort that may increase wearer time. Has a 4-point head harness for a secure and comfortable fit

·         Nose wire allows the wearer to shape to the nose, reducing eyewear fogging and forming a better seal.

·         Made from Lanaco HELIX™ Advanced Filter Material for effective filtration with low breathing resistance (104Pa @ 95l/m) 

·         Does not contain components made from natural rubber latex

·         Protects against hazards, such as dust, mists, smoke and fumes 

·         Complies with AS/NZS 1716:2012 standard and approved at a P2 level

·         Exceeds 95% filtration efficiency in laboratory testing when tested at 95 L/min against a salt aerosol (VicLab Australia, INSPEC United Kingdom) 

·         Advanced wool hybrid electrostatic filter media – low breathing resistance, moisture-wicking and naturally bacteriostatic

 
Jacobs had a NASA contract under which it searched around the world for organizations that might have the technical expertise to extend the life of NASA’s current respirator.

In May 2018, a call went out to Lanaco, a New Zealand company that develops and produces wool filter material, with a focus at that point on personal protective equipment in the workspace and air pollution filtration.

The Jacobs team was especially interested in particle filtration, which intrigued Lanaco founder Nick Davenport because, though his company hadn’t been working on emergency breathing devices, he knew wool was well suited to such an application.

Davenport, a materials applications engineer, and his colleagues had noticed the interesting properties of wool while working with polymers about a decade earlier.

“The deeper we dug into the science of wool and how it could perform in an industrial application, using new science, the more we saw there was an opportunity,” he says. Wool is naturally resistant to fire and bacteria, and it manages water well.

Davenport and his colleagues wondered why this extraordinary material wasn’t being used for filtration around the world. They realized air filter technology was focused on synthetic materials, overlooking this natural alternative.

He founded Lanaco and developed his proprietary wool filter technology. The company has built up a specialized commercial flock of sheep by working with a top breeder to maximize the qualities that make good filters and to reduce the material’s variability.

“We analyzed the wool fiber from hundreds of different types of sheep and then established a breeding program to specifically focus on the attributes that we needed to make the world’s best all-natural fiber air filter for respiratory applications,” Davenport says.

Wiles and her team at Jacobs were looking specifically for a prefilter that could fit over NASA’s existing fire cartridge to increase the life of the system for Orion. Lanaco then began to tailor its Helix filter for the application.

The particles that would fly around in the event of a spacecraft fire—including droplets of water used to extinguish a blaze—are potentially small and hot, and the existing technology is typically made of polymers with a relatively low melting point, Davenport says. A product like wool, which doesn’t promote a fire or degrade rapidly under hot particles, has clear advantages.

“As a prefilter, our technology enables the main filter to function in the presence of those hot particles and dangerous gases,” Davenport says.

Prior to the NASA contract, Lanaco had not been working directly in the area of critical breathing applications. Now the company has some expertise, with wool performing particularly well in fire resistance and moisture.

We have commenced developing some of the features in the NASA application of our filters for use in critical respiratory applications,” says Davenport.

Here are additional articles that can be found in  today’s issue of Coronavirus Technology Solutions

Extraction Arm from Nederman is a Great CCC Example

Freudenberg has the Products to Create Safe Bubbles

Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines Less Effective Against South African Variant

Education Week Weighs in on School Ventilation