An Efficient Ethanol-Vacuum Method for the Decontamination and Restoration of Polypropylene Microfiber Medical Masks & Respirators

Albert I. Nazeeri; Isaac A. Hilburn; Daw-An Wu; Kabir A. Mohammed; D. Yovan Badal; Moses H.W. Chan; Joseph L. Kirschvink

In addition to the decontamination and restoration treatment, this study suggests that it would be worth exploring a number of simple and accessible procedures that could potentially be employed by institutions of limited means. The filtration testing setup we used can be assembled at low cost, and the decontamination and drying protocols also use low-cost methods. Further development may lead to methods for small and resource-limited medical facilities to test, decontaminate, and recondition masks in order to extend the lifespan of existing PPE. Further testing is currently underway to reduce costs, optimize accuracy, and validate potential designs which could be implemented quickly and cheaply. Tables: Figure 1 : Left, schematic diagram of the experimental medical filter testing chamber. Right: Image of the current system with the top removed. The hand-held air blower forces ambient dirty air (~2 million particles at and above 0.3 μm/cuf) into the chamber, which exits either through the mask/head plumbing system or through the background port. The ratio of the particle counts at and above 0.3 μm between the two ports gives a direct measure of the mask efficiency.