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

COVID-19疫情爆发导致加拿大出现关键个人防护装备（PPE）短缺。迫切需要为医护人员和基本人员提供PPE。问题是供应与需求相比不足，危及安全。解决这一问题的方法之一是对个人防护设备进行消毒（去污），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，传统的高温灭菌可能不适合PPE。 为了应对这一紧迫的挑战，卡尔加里大学和TRIUM Environmental合作开发了一种新型的PPE灭菌系统，该系统可以集成过氧化氢和过氧乙酸的微/纳米液滴，臭氧和闪光。所提出的解决方案可以提供一种快速、有效的灭菌方法，该方法在室温下并且在保持面罩中的纤维的静电的同时引起最小的损坏。这些组合方法提供了协同效应，以延长PPE的使用，同时保持其功能。 将设计和开发新的集成灭菌系统。将检查不同治疗周期的最佳条件。将对有效性试验进行检测，包括但不限于不同菌种。在几个灭菌过程循环后，还将检查PPE的功能。 新的发展将提供一种替代方法，以符合成本效益和时间效率的方式应对不断增长的个人防护设备需求。合作研究将通过提供健康，经济和环境效益以及促进HQP培训各种专业和技术技能的方式使加拿大受益。

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.