Battelle expert welding at CCDS Critical Care Decontamination System™ for sterilization of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Faced with shortages, hospitals and companies work to extend use of N95 masks

Posted by Donald Judd, Ali Zaslav and Daniella Diaz on Apr 10, 2020

Columbus, Ohio (April 10, 2020)—Meanwhile, 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."

Read the full article here.