Interview with Markus Mueller of Reicofil on Meltblowns

qlAir Interview on a  Holistic Approach to Mitigate COVID

QYK Expanding California Mask Production

Coronavirus Could Kill 50 Million People

Some Masks More Effective Than Others

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Interview with Markus Mueller of Reicofil on Meltblowns

Markus Müller has been employed with the Reifenhäuser Group since 1987. In July 2015 he was named director of sales and is responsible since that time for all sales activities of Reicofil.  On July 15, 2020 he was interviewed by Bob McIlvaine and Ross Ardell of the McIlvaine Company.

Reicofil is a major supplier of non-woven production machinery.  It is currently supplying one melt blown line per week and one SMS composite line per month. Although some melt blown lines have been built on an urgent basis in less than four months after order there is presently a substantial backlog of orders.

Markus explained the complexity in making meltblowns . “We’re talking about fibres where one filament has a diameter of less than one micron, so we are in the nano area,”  

The media needs to be electrostatically charged. If production is not executed properly this charge can be dissipated. The big challenge is ensuring the uniformity in the media but other aspects such as avoiding oil droplet contamination from compressors is also needed. 

To insure that the plants are designed to conform with customer needs there is a dedicated manager assigned to each project. A remote center can advise customers relative to the machines once they are in operation.

Markus points to failures in meltblown production in China and elsewhere as examples of the difficulty in successfully designing and operating these plants.

Reicofil delivered  a plant in June to Berry Global Group. The contract was for a meltblown line for the production of highly efficient filter material for FFP2 (N95) and FFP3 (N99) respirators.

The 1.6 m wide Reicofil meltblown line is equipped with a technology for electrostatic charging and provides high-quality filter material that guarantees a high degree of separation, low pressure loss and a high storage capacity. The plant will bring an additional annual capacity of 550 tonnes of N95 material respectively 365 tonnes of N99 material to the market, which will serve the EMEIA economic area. The plant will be installed in France.

Reicofil also supplies the composite media lines. These combine spunbond and meltblowns.

These lines are making media used in surgical gowns and protective clothing.

In summary electrostatically charged meltblown media in masks is a unique way to achieve capture of small virus particles without excessive pressure drop and reduction in breathability. Reicofil is dedicated to providing the machinery to make meltblowns as well as composite media.  Due to the recent proof that much of the virus transmission is from small aerosols, the demand for masks with the higher efficiency supplied by meltblowns is exceeding supply. However Reicofil is making a maximum effort to address this need with machinery and processes which  will provide reliable products.

The full interview can be viewed at   https://youtu.be/4Q9fr9LX9KQ

qlAir Interview on a  Holistic Approach to Mitigate COVID

 Ellie Amirnasr, PhD, CEO

Marcel Schoch, CTO

 

 

 

A big potential for balancing air quality management, equipment maintenance and energy savings lies within broader use of sensors, data analytics and IoT (Internet of Things). Continuous air quality monitoring can be used to identify critical areas and patterns in indoor air quality and to select appropriate mitigation solutions. Combined with tracking and analyzing filter performance over time and the usage of an optimized ventilation schedule based on real data, “Clean Air as a Service” with access to a large portfolio of filtration products, filter delivery on time and guaranteed air quality will be provided.

By measuring the particle size in the outdoor air  (both PM 2.5 and PM 10) and then the particle size of the indoor air at various locations in a building information about COVID is gained.  There is a general correlation between air pollution levels and COVID mortality. More directly the particle reduction percentage across an air filter in an HVAC system can be used as surrogate for virus removal. If the PM 2.5 particle reduction is 70 percent it is likely that the virus reduction is 70 percent.

CO2 is another indicator. It is a reflection of the amount of outside dilution air. It can also indicate the number of individuals in a space. This can be used with other software tracking to determine the degree of social distancing taking place.

 

The qlAir  approach can minimize the counter clockwise rotation by recommending the installation of local air purifiers where the central HVAC system is inadequate. Ellie also pointed out that a MERV 13 filter on incoming outdoor air will be removing far less COVID than would be a filter processing the recirculating air.

Now with COVID the harm from poor ventilation is greatly increased. The following success story from Mann +Hummel qlair occurred prior to COVID but shows the process needed to minimize COVID as well as VOCs.

Hospitals, being some of the most at-risk facilities for poor indoor air quality, can have heavy exposure to harmful chemicals and airborne bacteria that cause illness and discomfort. These issues can be solved by proper ventilation and data tracking. In fact, a study done by ASHRAE found indoor air quality that was improved by appropriate ventilation reduced acute respiratory illnesses by up to 76 percent. 

This can be attributed to data collected from the same research, concluding that there was a higher concentration of carbon dioxide and VOCs inside urban hospitals than outdoors. Running the HVAC system properly and monitoring indoor air quality can allow the facility to attack these problems at the source in the most cost-efficient manner. 

Recently, qlair worked with a hospital that was in need of indoor air quality and monitoring, due to employee complaints of odor and poor ventilation. The pathology lab team had noticed an unpleasant chemical smell, and there were even tenants from other floors complaining of the strong odor. They needed better insight into the situation and contacted the team at qlair to help. .

Based on the assessment, it was clear that the storage room was not properly ventilated.

With a lead on the potential problem area, qlair began its installation process. Three sensors were installed – one in the chemical storage room, another in the lab area, and the third in the office area of the facility. It was time to wait and allow for the backend solution to gather data from the sensors, comparing different VOC levels to the different areas of the facility.

From the data collected, qlair confirmed that the problem resided within the storage closet. Data showed significantly higher levels of VOC concentration in the storage closet when compared to all other areas, during all times of the day. Other areas that were at problem levels were also identified during this time, although none matched the significance of the storage room.

Given this data, qlair was able to provide an actionable solution to the client, which not only completely eliminated the issue in the storage room, but also returned all areas of the lab to the correct levels of VOC concentration.

It is clear that the approach used to reduce VOCs can also be used to reduce COVID

Most digital solutions can only set up sensors and gather data, which can let you know when pollutants are at unsafe levels but do not provide actionable insights. qlair identifies, the problem and provides solutions to optimize the building air cleanliness. 

 

The full interview can be viewed at   https://youtu.be/T0HJF5MVDU0

 

QYK Expanding California Mask Production

Demand for personal protective equipment due to the coronavirus pandemic is what’s pushing QYK Brands to quickly expand from its current 20,000-square-foot facility in Garden Grove to an additional 120,000-square-foot plant in Anaheim,

CEO Rakesh Tammabattula told local media “We’ve gotten many requests from our buyers, and we did not want to risk our name by getting products from China, so we decided we would rather make them here,” Tammabattula said about the company’s decision to increase its manufacturing capacity by six times pre-coronavirus levels and soon double the size of its roughly 40-person staff.

QYK Brands, which is behind product lines such as DrJ’s Natural, QykSonic and Glowy, will be making life-saving equipment while also helping the local economy through its privately-funded operation, Tammabattula said.

Part of his vision, he said, is to see the country as a whole reduce its dependence on foreign entities for vital materials now and in the future.

“Personally, I’ve always advocated for domestic manufacturing, and this is a great opportunity to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.,” he said. “I am doing my part showing that we can make things here and not depend on China.”

QYK Brands, founded in 2017, currently supplies products to health professionals, government-related entities and retail stores.

Coronavirus Could Kill 50 Million People

The coronavirus pandemic is far from contained and could end up rivaling the 1918 flu that killed more than 50 million people worldwide, two leading health experts are warning.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the U.S. National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said that outbreak, which he called “the mother of all pandemics,” could be repeated if more is not done to contain it, during an online event with students from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the Guardian reported. Fauci has of late been the subject of a series of attacks on his credibility from White House officials, including President Donald Trump, for days now.

Separately, John M. Barry, a health sciences professor at Tulane University in New Orleans and author of “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History,” warned that mistakes made in dealing with the U.S. outbreak — a failure to fully shut down until the country had achieved a steep downward trend in cases; a failure to get widespread buy-in for public health measures; and a failure to establish robust testing, tracing and isolating — has allowed the virus to spread, threatening lives and further disrupting the economy.

In an op-ed in the New York Times, Barry noted how, during the 1918 flu, almost every city closed down most of its activity.

“Fear and caring for sick family members did the rest; absenteeism even in war industries exceeded 50 percent and eviscerated the economy,” he wrote. “Many cities reopened too soon and had to close a second time — sometimes a third time — and faced intense resistance. But lives were saved.”

If the U.S. had followed that course, it would be operating near 100 percent again by now, he wrote, Instead, as four former CDC heads wrote in a Tuesday op-ed in the Washington Post, the U.S. is home to a quarter of the world’s confirmed COVID-19 cases, despite accounting for just 4.4 percent of the global population.


Some Masks More Effective Than Others

A preliminary analysis of 194 countries found that places where masks weren't recommended saw a 55 percent weekly increase in coronavirus deaths per capita after their first case was reported, compared with 7% in countries with cultures or guidelines supporting mask-wearing. A model from the University of Washington predicted that the US could prevent at least 45,000 coronavirus deaths by November if 95 percent of the population were to wear face masks in public.

But not all masks confer equal levels of protection.

The ideal face mask blocks large respiratory droplets from coughs or sneezes — the primary method by which people pass the coronavirus to others — along with smaller airborne particles, called aerosols, produced when people talk or exhale.

The World Health Organization recommends medical masks for healthcare workers, elderly people, people with underlying health conditions, and people who have tested positive for the coronavirus or show symptoms. Healthy people who don't fall into these categories should wear a fabric mask, according to WHO. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends cloth masks for the general public.

But even cloth masks vary, since certain types are more porous than others.

"It depends on the quality," Dr. Ramzi Asfour, an infectious-disease physician in Marin County, California, told Business Insider. "If you're making a cloth mask from 600-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, that's different than making it from a cheap T-shirt that's not very finely woven."

Over the past few months, scientists have been evaluating the most effective mask materials for trapping the coronavirus. Here are their results so far, from most to least protective.

There's a reason agencies recommend reserving N99 and N95 masks for healthcare workers first: Both seal tightly around the nose and mouth so that very few viral particles can seep in or out. They also contain tangled fibers to filter airborne pathogens.

A study published in the Journal of Hospital Infection last month evaluated more than 10 masks based on their ability to filter airborne coronavirus particles. The researchers found that N99 masks reduced a person's risk of infection by 94% to 99% after 20 minutes of exposure in a highly contaminated environment. N95 masks offered almost as much protection — the name refers to its minimum 95% efficiency at filtering aerosols.

Another recent study also determined that N95 masks offered better protection than surgical masks.

Surgical masks are made of nonwoven fabric, so they're usually the safest option for healthcare workers who don't have access to an N99 or N95 mask.

An April study found that surgical masks reduced the transmission of multiple human coronaviruses (though the research did not include this new one, officially called SARS-CoV-2) through both respiratory droplets and smaller aerosols.

In general, surgical masks are about three times as effective at blocking virus-containing aerosols than homemade face masks, a 2013 study found. But healthcare workers should still have access to them first.

"The official guidelines are cloth masks because we don't want to take those masks away from medical workers who might need them more," Asfour said.

McIlvaine Company asks why we are still depriving the public of the masks that could save their lives.  The above data shows that N95 masks are at least three times as effective as cloth masks. Are we saying that is acceptable for three million deaths to occur worldwide when it could have been reduced to one million.

The UK researchers found that people who wore cotton masks had a 54% lower chance of infection than people who wore no masks at all. People who wore paper masks had a 39% lower chance of infection than the no-mask group.

Unlike a surgical mask, which is typically pleated and made of three layers of fabric, paper masks are thinner, so they confer less protection.

All of these percentages are unacceptable.  Masks should be the primary weapon to fight COVID. Theoretically if every COVID victim had been wearing an N100 mask when exposed and had been careful when taking off his mask there would have been few victims. If all transmitters were wearing N100 masks there would have been little virus on surfaces or in the air. If a transmitter coughs into a cloth mask large droplets on the mask will start to evaporate and would logically be generating small aerosols which would then penetrate the mask and be released  the virus in coughs or sneezes is airborne whether for fractions of a second or for hours. So it is a fact that virtually all COVID is airborne by the literal definition.  Even that identified from feces becomes a problem only when transferred to the air.