March 29, 2024

Erichoffer

Savvy business masters

Pentagon awards contract for N-95 mask sterilisation at 60 sites

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon awarded a US$400 million contract to Ohio-based non-profit research organisation Battelle so it can help to sterilise N-95 masks at 60 locations using concentrated hydrogen peroxide vapour.

Battelle said on Friday it was awarded the contract by the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency on behalf of the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

READ: South Korea to ship 600,000 coronavirus testing kits to US

US President Donald Trump tweeted an article about the Battelle technology, noting it “can sterilise masks quickly.”

The contract will cover Battelle’s associated costs of staffing and training system operators who will be deployed across the country to help process previously worn masks.

READ: New York governor says ‘worst is over’ as virus toll tops 10,000

The company’s Critical Care Decontamination System is already operating in Ohio, Long Island, New York and Washington state. Additional systems are scheduled for operation in Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, and the Washington, DC area, the company said.

The Battelle system uses concentrated, vapour phase hydrogen peroxide and works by exposing used respirator masks for 2.5 hours to decontaminate them from contaminants including SARS-CoV-2 which causes the COVID-19 illness, the company said.

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