NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Connecticut is about to deploy a new machine that’s being hailed as a game-changer when it comes to personal protective equipment. An Ohio based company called Battelle is bringing their technology here to Connecticut. The FDA had to literally re-write the rules to allow their PPE decontamination chamber to be scaled up for use where the Coronavirus is hitting the hardest.
It’s called the Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System. "The ultimate objective is to figure out how to safely, efficiently and effectively decontaminate PPE," said Battelle Division Manager Matt Zemanek. They've done that. Right now, FEMA is working to deploy the unit in New Haven. It should be ready later this week. The ultimate goal is to have the system running 24/7.
Here’s how it works: Hospitals will double bag, box and ship their contaminated N95 masks. Workers in full PPE will un-box and carefully catalog those masks. "They’ll come. We will deliver it to this receiving box. We have an inventory system set up that they can quickly scan those in. There is a designation applied per hospital location floor unit and potentially down to the person so we can get that PPE back to the same person if the hospital system desires that," explained Will Richter, the Principal Research Scientist at Battelle.
Then the masks get laid out in the decontamination chamber. "With a vaporized hydrogen peroxide system that moves between those systems," explained Zemanek. It’s that vapor solution that kills viruses and bacteria including the novel Coronavirus. "The decontamination procedure is about 3 1/2 hours follow by several hours of aeration to get to a level where staff can re-enter that space," said Richter.
The masks are then packed up and shipped back to the hospital in 24-hour turnaround time. The sanitizer can decontaminate up to 80,000 N95 masks a day. That should significantly reduce the need to source hard to find PPE. States have been competing with each other and even dipping into the grey market to secure shipments.
And it’s not just the N95 masks. Battelle says they can also decontaminate face shields and goggles and they are researching to see if they can also effectively decontaminate ventilator parts.