1. Supercritical carbon dioxide-based cleaning and sterilization treatments for the reuse of filtering facepiece respirators FFP2 in the context of COVID-19 pandemic
- Author
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Guillaume Aubert, N. Jidenko, Victor Mocho, Philippe Cinquin, Soleiman Bourrous, Cyril Aymonier, Mathieu Barrault, François-Xavier Ouf, Samuel Marre, Jean-Pierre Alcaraz, Anaïs Cario, Jean-Pascal Borra, Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux (ICMCB), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Techniques de l'Ingénierie Médicale et de la Complexité - Informatique, Mathématiques et Applications Grenoble - UMR 5525 (TIMC-IMAG), VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Laboratoire de physique des gaz et des plasmas (LPGP), Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), The authors thank Paul Boyé and Kolmi, who kindly procured the FFP2s on which this protocol was developed. This work is part of a French task-force initiated by CNRS and CEA, involving several research organisms and industrial partners. We thank Pr. Roger Salamon, who helped procure the first FFP2s on which the SCCD protocol was developed. We also thank the European Research Council., Systèmes Nanobiotechnologiques et Biomimétiques (TIMC-SyNaBi ), Translational Innovation in Medicine and Complexity / Recherche Translationnelle et Innovation en Médecine et Complexité - UMR 5525 (TIMC ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire [Grenoble] (CHU)
- Subjects
business.product_category ,[SDV.BIO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biotechnology ,020209 energy ,General Chemical Engineering ,cleaning ,Context (language use) ,02 engineering and technology ,010501 environmental sciences ,Reuse ,01 natural sciences ,12. Responsible consumption ,law.invention ,supercritical CO2 ,law ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry ,Respirator ,Filtration ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Supercritical carbon dioxide ,filtering performances ,Waste management ,FFP2 face protective equipment ,sterilization ,Human decontamination ,[CHIM.MATE]Chemical Sciences/Material chemistry ,Sterilization (microbiology) ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Supercritical fluid ,13. Climate action ,Environmental science ,business - Abstract
International audience; Supercritical Carbon Dioxide treatment of clean and soiled Filtering Face-Piece respirators is shown to meet mandatory requirements for safe reuse of FFP2. Preliminary tests enabled us to select optimal conditions for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide treatment of FFP2, for one hour at 343 K under 7.5 MPa, with a biocide solution. FFP2s from Paul Boyé ® were then tested before and after Supercritical Carbon Dioxide treatment with a soiling solution and a biological indicator (i.e. spores of GeoBacillus stearothermophilus) with respect to three objectives: (i) washing of organic deposits, (ii) sterilization (i.e. spores inactivation) and (iii) preservation of the filtration performances. The proposed Supercritical Carbon Dioxide treatment fulfils these three criterions, with effective decontamination of spores and promising washing preserving FFP2 requirements for filtration efficiency of aerosol (> 94%) with acceptable pressure drop (< 240 Pa). As a simple and low-cost one-step recycling method, Supercritical Carbon Dioxide fits to economical and sustainable development standpoints but also allows one to come back to good practices of face protective equipment use, lowering eventual shortage and tensions for most countries importing these respirators.
- Published
- 2022