April 13, 2020
Michigan State Decontaminates Masks in Oven
Battelle continues to Deploy H2O2
Decontamination Systems
Cool Clean Uses Dry Cleaning Technique for
Decontamination
More Reusable Isolation Gowns Worn in Europe
Berry is Expanding Meltblown Capacity
Berry Switching to Mask Media at Plants in the
U.S. and China
Unique Process for Nanofiber Production and
Microfiber Process Rates
Fibertex Non Wovens has New HEPA Filter Media
for Filters and Respirators
New Lockdown in China
Other Asian
Countries also have New Outbreaks
Klopman
Masks Now Available for €5 in Italy by
Courier
Andritz introduces High-Speed Facemask
Converting Line
______________________________________________________________________________
Michigan State Decontaminates Masks in Oven
Researchers at Michigan State University created
a new process to clean N95 masks for reuse with
a protocol that heats them in a commercial oven.
The team at the university together with Sparrow
Health System, a health care organization in
Michigan aims to decontaminate between 4,000 and
8,000 respirator masks per day with a process
that only takes about 45 minutes. The team says
the decontaminated mask offers the same
protection a new N95 mask would.
"It's a game changer for us," said Jim Dover,
the CEO of Sparrow Health System. "By coming up
with a way to reuse the masks up to 20 times
without any degradation, this protocol, it
basically moves us from a 25-day supply on hand,
up to 400."
As a result, Dover said, "We're no longer
subject to what I'm going to call extortion
prices from offshore manufacturers. We now have
reliability."
MSU researchers confirm the decontaminated mask
offers the same protection a new N95 mask would
for at least 10 wears, but it's still being
tested.
Battelle continues to Deploy H2O2
Decontamination Systems
Battelle Memorial Institute, an Ohio-based
research and development firm, has been
partnering with states like California and
Massachusetts to deploy a newly developed
machine that decontaminates N95 masks using
vaporized hydrogen peroxide.
Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California
Governor's Office of Emergency Services,
announced the state of California would utilize
the new technology to address personal
protective equipment shortages across the Golden
State.
"It's a technology that is designed to get on
the ground, and actually bring in a used N95
mask and do a sterilization and cleaning process
that makes them basically new again,"
Ghilarducci told reporters Wednesday. "And this
is new technology that has been certified by the
FDA, and CDC, and it will be here in California,
here within the next week. As capability, we'll
have the ability to clean up to 80,000 masks per
day."
Rep. Joe Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts,
told CNN Thursday that as the state is expecting
a surge in coronavirus patients in the next 10
days, technology like Battelle's will be
instrumental in meeting need.
"That's where you've seen hospitals like Mass
General that acquired a machine that sterilizes
80,095 N95 masks a day, which alleviates a huge
burden on the acquisition of new masks."
He added that it's not to say the state won't
need more medical supplies down the line, but
the most urgent need is right now before the
surge.
Cool Clean Uses Dry Cleaning Technique for
Decontamination
The CEO of Cool Clean Technologies, a company
that has a patented system for cleaning medical
devices, told CNN he is working on a process
that would clean the masks (and in effect,
sterilize them) so they can be reused. "The
difference with our approach is we use liquid
CO2 to actually clean the N95 masks," Jon
Wikstrom told CNN in a phone interview. "We
commercialized this for the dry-cleaning
industry, combination of environmentally
friendly solvent, cleaning and extraction of the
solvent, which has proven to be an excellent
cleaning system.
More Reusable Isolation Gowns Worn in Europe
Isolation gowns found in the marketplace today
are produced from a variety of fabrics and a
wide range of fibers. Isolation gowns are
generally classified as “disposable/single-use”
or “reusable/multi-use”. In the U.S., disposable
isolation gowns are used more commonly, while in
Europe the share of reusables is larger.
Approximately 80% of hospitals in the U.S. use
single-use gowns and drapes.
Disposable (single-use) isolation gowns are
designed to be discarded after a single use and
are typically constructed of nonwoven materials
alone or in combination with materials that
offer increased protection from liquid
penetration, such as plastic films. They can be
produced using a variety of nonwoven
fiber-bonding technologies (thermal, chemical,
or mechanical) to provide integrity and strength
rather than the interlocking geometries
associated with woven and knitted materials. The
basic raw materials typically used for
disposable isolation gowns are various forms of
synthetic fibers (e.g. polypropylene, polyester,
polyethylene). Fabrics can be engineered to
achieve desired properties by using particular
fiber types, bonding processes, and fabric
finishes (chemical or physical treatments).
Reusable (multi-use) gowns are laundered after
each use. Reusable isolation gowns are typically
made of 100% cotton, 100% polyester, or
polyester/cotton blends. These fabrics are
tightly woven plain weave fabrics that are
chemically finished and may be pressed through
rollers to enhance the liquid barrier
properties. Reusable garments generally can be
used for 50 or more washing and drying cycles.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791533/
Berry is Expanding Meltblown Capacity
Berry Global Group
is adding a fabric machine to its
Biesheim, France factory. The machine will spin
out 720 metric tons of filtration fabric per
year. That is enough for 480 million masks,
which is good, but it would be better for U.S.
hospitals if there were five more installations
in the works and all were in the U.S.
How quickly can more machines be built, and who
will pay for those machines? There isn’t much
discussion of that topic in White House
announcements. This is a tricky business. A
production line for nonwoven fabric can run to
$50 million. If it is destined to sit idle at
the end of the pandemic, it’s not a good
investment.
Both Berry and 3M are making heroic efforts to
redirect their factories to medical needs. In
normal times 3M’s mask output is aimed primarily
at the industrial and construction markets; now
it’s almost all going into the virus fight.
Berry had originally planned its new Biesheim
machinery to supply manufacturers of air
filters; now the fabric will be made for masks.
Berry also announced this week that it would use
factories in Indiana and Kentucky to make face
shields, a business it was not in before.
They’ll crank out 300,000 shields a month.
Curt Begle, who oversees the $2.5 billion
(sales) medical and specialties division of
Berry, says the assembly time for the Biesheim
equipment was accelerated from five months to
three and a half, and the additional production
line will be producing fabric by the end of
June.
The centerpiece of the Biesheim operation is a
“meltblown” machine engineered by the German
firm Reifenhäuser Reicofil.
Biesheim’s filtration fabric will supply the
European market. Berry has converted a pilot
fabric line in Virginia to making the filter
layer, but its output is only enough for 150
million masks a year. The company has a big
plant in China, but the output of that plant
goes to Chinese mask factories.
Berry Switching to Mask Media at Plants in the
U.S. and China
Berry has persuaded customers in the bedding and
furniture industries to defer orders so that it
can focus on medical needs. The company pivoted
a new $70 million factory investment in Nanhai,
China, from supplying electronics companies to
supplying mask makers. It is about to turn a
test-run operation in Waynesboro, Virginia, into
a production line that would produce enough
filtering fabric for 400,000 masks a day. It has
engineers tinkering with similar equipment in
Old Hickory, Tennessee, to get the same result.
It has resurrected a decommissioned fabric line.
“We’re leaving no stone unturned,” says Thomas
Salmon, Berry’s chief executive.
Berry has six U.S. plants that make either
fabrics or films that go into masks, protective
gowns, surgical drapes and antiseptic wipes. All
these are relevant to the current war effort,
but there is one weapon against coronavirus that
is in crucially short supply: meltblown
polypropylene.
Berry has two meltblown lines at a Biesheim,
France, factory, but all of their output is
going into the European market. Its Nanhai
factory cranks out meltblown, but the Chinese
market has until recently swallowed all of it.
What about buying another meltblown machine to
be installed in the U.S.? It would be a long
time coming, says Salmon. He points to a $50
million line Berry recently added in
Mooresville, North Carolina, for the production
of fabric for disinfectant wipes. That project
started long before the virus emerged. It took a
year.
Projects that take a year in normal times take
less in an emergency. There are two big European
manufacturers of machinery to make nonwoven
plastic fabrics: Reifenhäuser Reicofil, a
family-owned firm in Troisdorf, Germany, and
Oerlikon, a publicly traded company near Zurich.
A few days ago Reifenhäuser announced that it
cut the lead time for a meltblown machine to
three and a half months.
Output arriving in the summer comes too late to
cure the immediate shortage of protective gear
in New York. But it could address mask needs in
other states, or help with a second wave of the
epidemic, if that occurs. A machine blowing 550
tons of poly per year would produce the fabric
for 1.8 million masks a day.
Unique Process for Nanofiber Production and
Microfiber Process Rates
The BIG-nano Corp Inc,
Waterloo, ON, supplies nanofiber membranes with
a unique process that permits nanoscale
production at microfiber process rates. Its
objective is to use some of its available
capacity to make a contribution toward ongoing
COVID-19 outbreak control measures. John
Rawlins, president, indicates that they are
working with the Canadian government on this.
Fibertex Non Wovens has New HEPA Filter Media
for Filters and Respirators
Fibertex Nonwovens has
introduced a new fully synthetic non charged
HEPA 13 filter media based purely on mechanical
filtration by nanofibers and with near to half
the pressure drop of glass media. Designed for
use in various applications, including vacuum
cleaners, air purifiers, HVAC systems and
respirators, Pleatex 80AH13NP6 is made from
durable non-shredding nonwovens, which can
replace hazardous glass fibres that are a risk
when processing or when replacing filters in
HVAC systems. Fibertex Pleatex 80AH13NP6 is easy
to process on all types of pleating machines,
including rotary pleaters, knife and blade
pleaters. Advantages of this 100% synthetic
material over commercially available glass fibre
products include faster pleating, a low pressure
drop and long-term efficiency. This material
also adheres to the lowest energy consumption
standards in ventilation systems.
Fibertex Pleatex 80AH13NP6 is based purely on
mechanical filtration by nanofibres which are
non-charged and is most commonly available as an
80 gsm HEPA 13 pleatable filter media. The
benefit is that Fibertex Pleatex 80AH13NP6 works
efficiently in all conditions and has a longer
shelf life compared to charged melt-blown media,
Fibertex Nonwovens using in-house
state-of-the-art nano technology to produce its
new highly efficient filter media and is
manufactured to the highest quality in Aalborg,
Denmark.
The company has
introduced a new fully synthetic non charged
HEPA 13 filter media based purely on mechanical
filtration by nanofibres and with near to half
the pressure drop of glass media.
Designed
for use in various applications, including
vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, HVAC systems and
respirators. Fibertex Pleatex 80AH13NP6 is easy
to process on all types of pleating machines,
including rotary pleaters, knife and blade
pleaters. Advantages of this 100% synthetic
material over commercially available glass fibre
products include faster pleating, a low pressure
drop and long-term efficiency. This material
also adheres to the lowest energy consumption
standards in ventilation systems.
The media is based purely on mechanical
filtration by nanofibres which are non-charged
and is most commonly available as an 80 gsm HEPA
13 pleatable filter media. The benefit is that
Fibertex Pleatex 80AH13NP6 works efficiently in
all conditions and has a longer shelf life
compared to charged melt-blown media,
Fibertex Nonwovens using in-house
state-of-the-art nano technology to produce its
new highly efficient filter media and is
manufactured to the highest quality in Aalborg,
Denmark.
We see a huge potential in the filtration
market, and our ambition is to become a leading
global player capable of manufacturing filters
with a wide range of different properties. In
addition, we have the facilities to produce
these products under fully controlled and
certified production conditions ensuring
environmentally-responsible and sustainable
production,” said CEO,
Jørgen Bech Madsen
“By utilizing premium, high-efficiency Fibertex
nanofibre layers in the production of protective
face masks, end-users can expect to reach N95
and FFP2 level of protection," says Per Holst
Rasmussen of Fibertex Nonwovens. “The main
benefit of Fibertex nanofibre layers, compared
to electret meltblowns currently used in masks,
is guaranteed efficiency of the filtration layer
during the lifetime of the mask. Fibertex
nanofibre layers are based purely on mechanical
filtration, unlike electret meltblown materials,
which tend to become discharged during usage and
substantially lose filtration efficiency,
especially in conditions of over 80 % relative
humidity.
“Another important benefit of this advanced
technology, is durability of the nanofibre
layer, which enables extended storage time of
masks, making them suitable for use as disaster
and epidemic relief safety stocks.”
New Lockdown in China
Henan province in central China has taken the
drastic measure of putting a mid-sized county in
total lockdown as authorities try to fend off a
second coronavirus wave in the midst of a push
to revive the economy.
Curfew-like measures came into effect on April 6
in Jia county, near the city of Pingdingshan,
with the area’s roughly 600,000 residents told
to stay home, according to a notice on the
country’s official microblog account. Special
approval was required for all movement outside
the home, it said.
A doctor surnamed Liu who worked at the county’s
hospital tested positive for the coronavirus.
Liu returned to the county from Wuhan in January
and resumed work at the hospital after
completing two weeks of self-isolation, the
report said. However, Liu apparently passed the
virus on to two colleagues at the hospital as
well as a former classmate, with all of them
testing positive in early April.
All businesses have been shut down, except
utilities, medical suppliers, logistics
companies and food processing firms. All shops
except supermarkets, hospitals, food markets,
petrol stations, pharmacies and hotels have been
closed. In addition, only people with special
permits can go to work and cars can only be used
on alternate days, depending on their plate
number.
Other Asian
Countries also have New Outbreaks
Singapore on April 9 reported 287 new cases of
the virus, the city-state's largest single-day
increase since the pandemic began. Only three of
the cases were imported, pointing to a major new
domestic outbreak.
Earlier this week, Singaporean
authorities banned all social gatherings until
May 4, and new laws designed to act as a
"circuit breaker" have imposed draconian new
punishments on anyone found breaching
social-distancing or quarantine orders.
The semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong
saw a similar spike in cases after it relaxed
restrictions, with many infections imported from
overseas. Officials have since ramped up
controls again and urged people to be more
stringent in exercising social distancing and
infection control. While this has shown some
success, health officials said Thursday that
vigilance is still required.
Klopman Masks
Now Available for €5 in Italy by Courier
Klopman will produce face masks through a chain
specifically created in collaboration with local
and non-local companies. Full production will
guarantee around 30,000 pieces per day. These
are “third category” filtering face masks.
The third category masks are designed to help
provide a first barrier to the spread of the
virus for all the circulating population, all
the people who work, the police (if not engaged
in emergency operations), the offices open to
the public, food sales workers and all people or
workers in circulation. Like surgical masks,
these are not devices capable of filtering the
virus but of avoiding the spread of the virus
from the wearer to the surrounding atmosphere.
The massive use of these tools therefore
decreases the risk of exposure to the virus
itself.
The product has an external shell in Vektron
8200, a 100% polyester woven fabric with
continuous multi-filament yarns, Taslanised to
guarantee a very compact construction in order
to ensure a barrier effect, with reduced
particle release which for its characteristics
it is normally used in electronics, in clean
rooms, in the hospital sector for medical
treatment. This is a fabric with a hydro/oil
repellent finish to promote protection against
splashes of potentially contaminated liquids.
The inside of the mask is instead made with a
cotton blend fabric that ensures comfort for the
wearer.
Klopman masks can be reused up to 50 times and
are suitable for domestic and industrial
sterilization and washing up to 75 °C. It is
recommended to rinse well in order to remove
detergent residues and iron the masks at 150 °C
and to ensure the restoration of the water
repellent conditions of the external layer.
The masks will be available for both individual
citizens and companies, on the website
www.klopmanstore.com, in a first batch of
10,000 pieces, starting
at a cost of 5 euros per piece, not
including VAT and shipping costs.
Andritz introduces High-Speed Facemask
Converting Line
In the first configuration, this new converting
line will be able to produce masks for
surgical/medical applications. Other mask types
– like N95/FFP2 – are currently being evaluated.
The new Andritz D-Tech Face Mask line produces
and laminates three or more layers of fabrics (spunbond,
meltblown, thermo-bonded nonwovens and others).
It comprises unwinding and guiding units for
nonwoven webs, cutting and positioning devices
for the metal nose bar, an edge welding and
cutting unit, a 90 degree rotation process, as
well as positioning and welding of the ear loop
elastics.
The line has a speed of up to 110 m/min and is
able to produce up to 750,000 facemasks per day,
according to Andritz. There are also different
packaging options available: products can be
packed in bags by an automatic flow wrapping
machine or in cardboard boxes by an automatic
cartoner.
