COVID-19: Development of Sustainable and Compostable Face Masks for Enhanced Protection Against COVID-19 Virus Particles

几乎所有的N95和医用口罩都是用合成纤维生产的，比如丙纶(PP)纤维。生产和使用PP作为一次性口罩将加剧与聚烯烃和聚苯乙烯等一次性塑料相关的许多问题。一种由人造天然纤维制成的新型口罩提供了一个可持续的长期解决方案，消除了上世纪80年代社会放弃使用纸袋而使用无处不在的塑料袋的陷阱。事后看来，这现在被认为是世界正在努力扭转的一个重大错误。因此，我们应该避免在合成口罩上犯同样的错误。 这项建议旨在提升森林和农业生物质，并设计它们生产防护口罩以对抗冠状病毒流行。拟议的项目将推进超疏水纸系统(SHP)或纸基口罩(PBM)的开发，这种口罩具有防水、抗菌和对负电荷病毒颗粒(VP)有很强的结合。SHP是用一种不同的造纸工艺制备的，其中由改性的纤维素纳米晶、蜡微粒和纸浆纤维组成的Pickering乳液(PE)通过吸墨纸形成SHP。SHP表现出高的水接触角(&gt；150度--超疏水条件)和低附着力，因此水滴和含有新冠肺炎病毒颗粒的水气溶胶不能附着在其表面。我们的团队拥有生产PE的专业知识和科学知识，然后使用造纸机进行处理，形成SHP。SHP/PBM将根据ASTM F2100医用口罩标准进行评估，以确认其防止VP到达人类呼吸系统(HRS)的能力。PE配方和生产工艺可以很容易地放大，以生产大量用于商业应用的SHP/PBM。

Almost all the N95 and surgical masks are produced with synthetic fibers, such as polypropylene (PP) fibers. The production and use of PP as disposable face masks will aggravate many of the problems associated with single use plastics, such as polyolefins and polystyrene. A new kind of face mask manufactured from engineered natural fibers offers a sustainable long-term solution, negating the same trap as when in the 1980s, society abandoned the use of paper bags for the ubiquitous plastic bags instead. On hindsight, this is now believed to be a major mistake that the world is trying to reverse. Thus, we should avoid making the same mistake with synthetic face masks. This proposal seeks to upgrade forest and agriculture biomass and engineer them to produce protective masks to combat the Coronavirus pandemic.The proposed project will advance the development of a superhydrophobic paper system (SHP) or a paper-based mask (PBM) that is water repellant, antimicrobial, and has strong binding to negatively charged virus particles (VP). The SHP is prepared using a variant of paper making process, where the formulated Pickering emulsion (PE) consisting of modified cellulose nanocrystals, wax microparticles, and pulp fibers is passed through a blotting paper to form the SHP. The SHP displays a high water contact angle (>150 degree -a condition of superhydrophobicity) and low adhesion, such that water droplets and aqueous aerosols with COVID-19 virus particles cannot adhere to its surface. Our group has the expertise and scientific knowledge to produce the PE, which is then processed using the paper making device to form the SHP. The SHP/PBM will be evaluated according to ASTM F2100 standard for medical grade masks, confirming their capability to prevent the VPs from reaching the human respiratory system (HRS). The PE formulation and production process can be readily scaled-up to produce large volume of the SHP/PBM for commercial applications.