Development of High Quality Water-soluble Infection Control Bags for Domestic Use

家用高品质水溶性感染控制袋的开发

• 批准号: 65534
• 金额: $ 6.28万
• 依托单位: AQUAPAK POLYMERS LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=65534
• 关键词: Development; Quality; Water; soluble; Infection

Infection control and minimising the risk of hospital acquired infection is a major concern for healthcare facilities world-wide. Contaminated hospital and care home linen poses a particularly high infection risk, as pathogens can adhere to clothes and traditional plastics such as polyethylene for long periods and can be transported into 'lower risk' areas such as the domestic home.The preferred method to reduce contamination risks relating to infectious laundry is to use water soluble laundry bags in a hot wash cycle to negate the need for debagging when loading industrial washing machines.Standard issue 'alginate' water-soluble laundry bags are designed for solubility rather than to be functional. They can be difficult to open, can split in service due to weak seals and NHS protocols require 'double bagging' with polythene outers to get functionality. The use of starch and sodium alginate to aid processability of the Polyvinylalcohol can often result in poor solubility characteristics of the inner sack leaving non-dissolved residues in the washing and cause blockages in washing machine outages.Aquapak has developed a technology to produce a specially formulated and pure Polyvinylalcohol pellet (Hydropol(tm)) which allows standard bag manufacturers to make a super strong and quality water-soluble bag that can dissolve at controlled temperatures in both industrial and domestic washing machines. It does not use any additives which create residue and is safe and non-toxic in the effluent stream. The hot water-soluble bag is on the market where it is certified in Australia to be strong enough to carry cytotoxic linen, allowing recovery of contaminated linen that would otherwise be incinerated.This project is to:\* design a quality warm water-soluble laundry bag with inherent infection barrier which allows healthcare/care workers to bag up their work clothing and wash them domestically at 60oC with minimal handling.\* develop a range of water-soluble hospital laundry bags, aprons, gowns and gloves, which are fit for purpose, improve infection control and dissolve during the hot wash cycle used by hospitals, industries and hotels.\* run proof of concept studies on other thermoplastic forms of Hydropol(tm) (adhesive tapes, mouldings, fibres, to see if any can help the NHS).The successful development of this project opens-up new markets for UK blown film manufacturers to supply soluble laundry bags and other PPE items to the NHS and wider healthcare system and thereby increase UK resilience during the COVID 19 pandemic, and the return to normality.

感染控制和最大限度地降低医院获得性感染的风险是全球医疗机构的主要关注点。受污染的医院和护理之家亚麻布构成特别高的感染风险，因为病原体可以长时间附着在衣服和传统塑料（如聚乙烯）上，并且可以被运送到“低风险”区域（如家庭）。减少与感染性衣物有关的污染风险的优选方法是在热洗循环中使用水溶性衣物袋，以在装载工业洗涤剂时消除脱袋的需要。标准的“藻酸盐”水溶性洗衣袋被设计用于溶解性而不是功能性。它们可能很难打开，由于密封薄弱，在使用中可能会分裂，NHS协议需要用聚乙烯外套进行“双层装袋”以获得功能。使用淀粉和海藻酸钠来辅助聚乙烯醇的加工性通常会导致内袋的溶解性差，在洗涤中留下不溶解的残留物，并在洗衣机停机时造成堵塞。Aquapak开发了一种生产特殊配方的纯聚乙烯醇颗粒的技术。（Hydropol（TM）），其允许标准袋制造商制造可在工业和家用洗衣机中在受控温度下溶解的超强且优质的水溶性袋。它不使用任何会产生残留物的添加剂，在废水中安全无毒。这种热水可溶性洗衣袋已在市场上销售，在澳大利亚获得认证，其强度足以携带有细胞毒性的亚麻布，从而可以回收受污染的亚麻布，否则这些亚麻布将被焚烧。该项目旨在：\* 设计一种具有固有感染屏障的优质热水可溶性洗衣袋，使医护人员能够将工作服装入袋中，并在60摄氏度的温度下在家中洗涤，最大限度地减少处理。\*开发一系列水溶性医院洗衣袋、围裙、长袍和手套，它们适用于医院、工业和酒店使用的目的，改善感染控制，并在热洗周期中溶解。对Hydropol（TM）的其他热塑性形式（胶带、模制品、纤维）进行概念验证研究，看看是否有任何形式可以帮助NHS。该项目的成功开发为英国吹塑薄膜制造商开辟了新的市场，为NHS和更广泛的医疗保健系统提供可溶性洗衣袋和其他PPE物品，从而提高英国在COVID 19大流行期间的抵御能力，并恢复正常。