Technology Spotlight – PPE Decontamination

Technology Spotlight – PPE Decontamination

One of the most immediate and ongoing issues that the COVID crisis has highlighted is access to necessary PPE for healthcare workers.  There have been serious shortages of crucial safety equipment such as N-95 masks and many organizations are still struggling to meet demand for N-95 masks.  This ongoing shortage has led many organizations to consider processes for decontamination and reuse of masks.  A variety of different techniques have been tried including UV light exposure and aerosolized hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) vapor exposure.

EuroBio Concept (EBC) is a leading manufacturer of RABS for use in hazardous medication compounding.  They produce a unit that also provides an H2O2  vapor decontamination cycle for added protection.  They have adapted their H2O2 decontamination experience to produce a unit capable of decontaminating masks or other equipment.  For the decontamination, EBC is able to obtain 99.9999% elimination of pathogens with a 6-log kill and 0 ppm residue with 35% H2O2 vapor  after one cycle of 4 hours for approximately 300 masks. Using this approach it would be possible to run three cycles daily with one cycle in the morning, another one in the afternoon and one during the night to be able to decontaminate approximately 1,000 masks per 24 hours. 

The EBC system uses a four-step process:

1.Preparation

2. Gassing

3. Contact/Dwell Time

4. Aeration (the EBC unit employs catalytic conversion to safely convert the H2O2 to water vapor and oxygen)

The EBC unit is designed for easy installation by non-technical personnel. It comes with an installation manual and EBC will also offer a training video.

The manufacturing time from receipt of orders is approximately 8 weeks.  EBC is currently working with Doctors Without Borders to place units in multiple countries where PPE access is a continuous challenge.

If interested in more information EBC can be contacted at:  contact@eurobioconcept.fr