Novel Integrated Sterilization and Reuse of Personal Protective Equipment for COVID-19

新冠肺炎的大流行在加拿大造成关键个人防护装备的短缺。迫切需要为医护人员和基本人员提供个人防护用品。问题是，与需求相比，供应不足，危及安全。解决这一问题的方法之一是对个人防护用品进行消毒(去污染)，以便在紧急情况下再次使用。N95口罩通常由熔喷聚丙烯纤维制成，传统的基于高温的灭菌方法可能不适合个人防护设备。 为了应对这一紧迫的挑战，卡尔加里大学和TRIUM环境公司合作开发了一种新型的个人防护设备灭菌系统，该系统可以集成过氧化氢和过氧乙酸、臭氧和闪光的微/纳米液滴。建议的解决方案可以提供一种快速、有效的灭菌方法，该方法在室温下，在保持面罩中纤维静电的同时，造成最小的损害。这些结合的方法提供了协同效应，以延长个人防护装备的使用，同时保持其功能。将设计和开发新的一体化灭菌系统。将研究不同处理周期的最佳条件。药效测试将包括但不限于不同的细菌种类。PPE的功能也将在灭菌过程的几个循环后进行检查。 这一新的发展将提供另一种方式，以成本效益和时间效率回应日益增长的个人防护装备需求。合作研究将使加拿大受益，因为它提供了健康、经济和环境效益，以及促进具有各种专业和技术技能的HQP培训的一种方式。

The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 caused shortage of critical personal protective equipment (PPE) in Canada. There is an urgent need to supply PPE for healthcare workers and essential personnel. The problem is that the supply is insufficient compared to the demands, jeopardizing safety. One of the methods to tackle this problem is through sterilization (decontamination) of PPE in order to reuse them for emergency applications. N95 masks are typically made of melt blown polypropylene fibres and the traditional high temperature-based sterilization may not be appropriate for PPE. In order to tackle this urgent challenge, the University of Calgary and TRIUM Environmental have cooperated to develop a novel sterilization system for PPE that can integrate micro/nano droplets of hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid, ozone, and flash. The proposed solution can provide a rapid, effective sterilization method that is at room temperature and that causes minimal damage while maintaining static electricity of fibers in masks. The combined approaches provide synergistic effects to prolong the use of PPE while maintaining their functionalities. The new integrated sterilization system will be designed and developed. The optimal conditions for different treatment cycles will be examined. The efficacy tests including, but not limited to, different bacteria species will be tested. The functionalities of PPE will be also be examined after several cycles of sterilization processes. The new development would provide an alternative way to respond to the ever-growing demands for PPE with cost effectiveness and time efficiency. The collaborative research will benefit Canada by providing health, economic, and environmental benefits as well as a way to facilitate training of HQP with a variety of professional and technical skills.