Coronavirus
Technology Solutions
October 14, 2020
Filter Media Market will be Large but Volatile
Acoustical Wall Coverings with Anti-Microbials
Available from National Wall Covering
Effectiveness of Antimicrobials Analyzed by
Singapore Researchers
Cummins is in Mask Manufacture for the Long Haul
_____________________________________________________________________________
Filter Media Market will be Large but Volatile
The segments of the
filtration industry which use non-woven and
membrane filters were $60 billion in 2019. If
the lowest true cost choices relative to the
coronavirus are selected the market will grow to
$80 billion in 2022. This represents an increase
of 33 percent over the 2019 revenues.
Coronavirus variables
have the biggest effect on the mask, local air
and HVAC purchases. Given the lowest true cost
path the media purchases for masks would be over
$5 billion. The media purchases for local air
and HVAC would be $4 billion. Media purchases
for other filtration applications would be over
$21 billion.
The lowest true cost
analysis recognizes the fact that most virus
transmission is through small aerosols. As a
result highly efficient masks and filters
represent the lowest true cost.
Media suppliers are
investing in production lines which will be
depreciated over many years. So the market past
2022 is of high interest. The future markets are
dependent upon
·
choice of the lowest
true cost program or the choice the U.S. and
Brazil have taken
·
the timing and impact
of vaccines and therapies
·
the impact of the
next pandemic, influenza and air pollution
·
the development of
new media with higher performance attributes
·
existing capacity
versus demand at any point in time.
The filtration media
suppliers are facing the challenge of a very
volatile market. The 2021 market could vary from
$20 to $35 billion. By 2024 the market could
vary from $23 billion to $44 billion.
Media suppliers will
be well advised to continually adjust forecasts
in each application and geography.
Some applications such as rotating
equipment have much more certainty than masks.
The same media which
can be used in masks and HVAC filters has
applicability in gas turbine intake filters,
dust collectors, and liquid cartridges.
Growth in gas turbine inlet filters and dust
collection will be much more predictable than
media for fan filter units and local air
systems.
Media efficiencies will change substantially
from this 2019 split.
the
i
The COVID impact will likely lessen but air
pollution and influenza concerns will insure a
continuing market.
The Mcilvaine Company has custom reports on
filter media and multi client reports on each
filtration application. Details are found at
www.mcilvainecompany.com
Bob McIlvaine can answer any questions at
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
or 847 226 2391.
Acoustical Wall Coverings with Anti-Microbials
Available from National Wall Covering
National Wall Covering is a distributor
operating in 30 States in the U.S. Standard
Repeat Acoustical Wallcoverings are a curated
selection of repeat-pattern designs printed via
dye-sublimation on Sibilance® High Performance
Acoustical Felt.
·
Derived from 100% postindustrial recycled
polyester
·
Provides an acoustically rated noise coefficient
(NRC) of .20.
·
Highly resistant to shrinking and stretching.
·
Coated for maximum stain resistance and
lightfastness (has a lightfastness rating of 5).
·
Fosshield Antimicrobial Technology: Silver &
copper ions incorporated into the polyester
fiber naturally attack microbes.
·
Does not absorb moisture making it a durable and
long-lasting solution.
·
Easily installed using traditional wallcovering
paste and butt seams leaving no visible overlap.
Fossheild®, an FDA cleared
antimicrobial technology incorporating silver
and copper ions into the fiber which naturally
attack microbes thus delivering surface
protection in addition to odor, mold, and
bacteria resistance.
Fosshield is the technology incorporated
into the SpectraShield™ 9500 N95 surgical
respirator mask. In the FDA testing, Fosshield began
microbe prevention immediately and eliminated
99.99% of certain odor-causing bacteria after
one hour of contact with the respirator surface.
This antimicrobial technology
is a solution for healthcare, living, and
workspaces with the added benefit of noise
mitigation and visual beauty.
“ The fiber
technology featured in Fosshield® works against
the types of airborne bacteria we are most
concerned about. This type of ‘capture and kill’
technology is ideal.
It’s the silver bullet against bacteria.” –
Dr. Charles Gerba
Effectiveness of Antimicrobials Analyzed by
Singapore Researchers
The Institute of Materials Research in Singapore
has just published an extensive analysis of
masks. We have excerpted some relevant
paragraphs on antimicrobials.
Apart from natural herbal extracts, metals and
their compounds have also been extensively
studied for their antimicrobial application.
Nanoparticles of metal and their compounds have
garnered huge attention as a potent
antimicrobial agent due to their high
surface-to-volume ratios compared with their
bulky counterparts. Though each of them has a
different mechanism of biocidal action, a
generally proposed mechanism includes the
disruption of cell membrane metabolism due to
the penetration of nanoparticles and/or release
of metal ions and the effect of photocatalytic,
as reactive oxygen species (ROS) like hydroxyl
(HO·) and superoxide radicals (O2-·)
are generated, which induce oxidative stress to
microorganisms and cause the ultimate
inactivation.
Nanoparticles of silver (Ag), silver compounds
(Ag+), titanium dioxide (TiO2),
zinc oxide (ZnO), and aluminum and aluminum
oxide (Al2O3) have been
incorporated to various filters for
antimicrobial properties. A synergistic
antimicrobial performance is also revealed via
their combination with other biocidal agents,
such as carbon nanotubes.
Apart from antimicrobial air filters,
multifunctional air filters, which
simultaneously remove PM, microorganisms, and
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), have drawn
increasing research attention recently. The
integrated multifunctional air filter provides a
promising solution to address the high-pressure
drop often caused by multiple filters with
different functions used in current air filters.
Feng et al. designed and fabricated hierarchical
Ag/ZnO nanorod-wrapped PTFE nanofibrous membrane
with an excellent dynamic antibacterial property
of ~100% against Escherichia coli (E.
coli), and a formaldehyde degradation rate
of 60%, with slightly increased gas penetration,
taking advantages of the antimicrobial
properties and photocatalytic abilities of both
ZnO and nanosilver.
In another study, Zhao et al. reported a
multifunctional Ag@MWCNTs Al2O3 hybrid
filter, where Ag@MWCNTs with a hierarchical
network-like structure uniformly distributed
around the pores of the Al2O3 filter.
The antimicrobial functionality of Ag
nanoparticles, as well as their catalytic
performance for formaldehyde degradation, were
greatly enhanced when loaded on high surface
area of CNTs. Owing to the synergistic
integration, the Ag@MWCNTs/Al2O3 hybrid
filter demonstrated excellent antimicrobial rate
(>98%) against common indoor microorganisms,
outstanding degradation of formaldehyde (99.99%
at 55°C, and 82.24% at room temperature), and
complete retention for particles with sizes ≤
0.3 μm with a pressure drop of 35.60%
compared with the pristine Al2O3 filter.
Copper nanoparticles are strong microbicides for
a broad spectrum of microorganisms. Very
recently, they have been demonstrated to be
effective against the newly emerged 2019
coronavirus (COVID-19), which is threatening the
whole world. Though copper-polymer
nanocomposites have been explored for
antimicrobial applications, the integration of
copper nanoparticles to filters for personal
protection or air filtration has not been
reported yet. With appropriate technologies to
effectively deposit copper nanoparticles onto
fibrous filter matrix, more advancement for
copper nanoparticles as antimicrobial coating in
air filters is expected.
Metal-Organic
Frameworks (MOF)
an emerging new class
of antimicrobials, are superior compared with
metals due to their high surface area, uniform
distribution of metal active sites, and
adjustable porous structures. There has been
rapid progress in recent years on the research
of antimicrobial behavior of MOFs, along with
the antimicrobial application of MOFs and their
composites. The antimicrobial mechanism of MOFs
is mainly accredited to the inherent biocidal
nature from their metal ions and may also be
from the antimicrobial organic ligands.
Ma et al. combined MOFs and cellulose fibre (CF)
via simple in situ generation and established
multifunctional MOFs@CF air filters. The
ZIF-8@CF filter exhibited high filtration
efficiency of 98.36% against 0.3 μm
particles, high gas adsorption ability, and
excellent antibacterial activity against E.
coli under a pressure drop of 134 Pa. Very
recently, inspired by the extremely tunable
photocatalytic properties of MOFs, Li et al.
exploited their photocatalytic biocidal
activities and developed integrated air filters
based on the MOFs. ZIF-8 nanocrystals were
integrated to nonwoven fabrics via hot pressing.
The established MOFilter achieved 96.8% removal
of PM2.5 particles with a
low-pressure drop (64 Pa) at a flow rate of
0.7 m s−1 and bactericidal efficiency
higher than 99.99% over 30 min against aerosols
containing E. coli. The dominant
disinfection behavior of ZIF-8 here was ascribed
to ROS production from photoelectrons trapped at
Zn+ centers within ZIF-8 via ligand
to metal charge transfer (LMCT), rather than Zn2+ releasing.
This work sheds light on the photocatalytic
biocidal action of MOFs and provides valuable
insights for their potential antimicrobial
applications in air disinfection.
Several masks have also integrated more than one
class of antimicrobial agents across multiple
layers. US patent 7845351 disclosed that
treating the outer nonwoven layer with
antimicrobial agents comprising
polyhexamethylene biguanide, citric acid, and N-alkyl
polyglycoside, as well as other known
antimicrobial agents, can deactivate 99.9% of
treated bacteria (MRSA, vancomycin-resistant E.
faecalis, M. catarrhalis, and K.
pneumoniae), fungus C. albicans,
and viruses (rhinovirus 1A, influenza A) within
30 minutes of contact. US patent application
US20110114095A1 disclosed the use of AgNP-impregnated
activated carbon cloth (ACC) as the filtration
layer in a face mask; ACC itself showed
antiviral activity (93%) against MS-2 coliphage
after 6 h incubation, which was enhanced by
impregnation of AgNPs (98%). Incorporation of
the AgNPs/ACC into a mask resulted in >99.88%
virus filtration while having increased air
permeability compared to the FFP3 mask. Some
FDA-cleared examples of antimicrobial mask
include Filigent's BioFriendTM BiomaskTM ,
cobranded with Medline Curad® BiomaskTM (ONT
and OUK), as well as Innonix's RespoKareTM mask
line (OUK child masks), which both use 2 wt%
citric acid on the outermost spun-bound PP
layer, as well as Cu(II) and Zn(II) (1.6 wt%
each) coordinated to sulfonated Rayon in a
second layer before the melt-blown PP filter.
Both antiviral masks inactivated 99.99% of
tested influenza A (H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, H5N1, and
H5N9) and B viruses within 5 minutes. Nexera
Medical's SpectraShieldTM 9500 masks
(ONT) use patented Ag-Cu zeolite (Agion®,
Sciessen LLC) in the outer PET fibre layer (Fosshield®,
Foss Manufacturing); it kills 99.99% of tested
bacteria (S. pyogenes, MRSA, and H.
influenzae) and can also inactivate SARS,
influenza, and filovirus. It has been tested for
continuous use for up to 8 hours.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7429109/
Cummins is in Mask Manufacture for the
Long
Haul
Amy Davis, Vice President of
Cummins Filtration, shares an update on the
company's progress to provide filter media to
mask manufacturers around the globe.
As the world began to grapple
with COVID-19, employees at Cummins were working
on innovative solutions to help supply PPE that
was in high demand. On April 6, Cummins
announced plans to use their filter
technology to supply critical materials for N95
respirator masks, an essential piece of personal
protective equipment for front-line healthcare
workers.
Following the N95
announcement, on April 14, Cummins announced an
additional partnership with 3M, which would
include the utilization of equipment typically
used for producing diesel engine filters to
manufacture high-efficiency particulate filters
for use in 3M’s powered air purifying
respirators (PAPRs).
To date, Cummins has provided
more than 14 tons of its filtration media to
mask manufacturers across the globe, which has
been used to produce more than eight million
masks. Amy Davis, Vice President of Cummins
Filtration, recently shared an update on the
company’s progress to date.
Q: First, can you share more about the
Cummins Filtration business and your core
products?
DAVIS: Our core expertise is designing,
manufacturing and selling air, fuel, hydraulic
and lube filtration, as well as chemical
technology products for diesel and gas-powered
equipment around the world.
Q: How did Cummins Filtration get involved in
supplying media for masks?
DAVIS: The need for masks, especially N95
respirator masks, skyrocketed in March and April
in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We learned
that many of the world’s leading mask
manufacturers needed the critical materials to
assemble masks and were struggling to meet
demand. We realized that the NanoNet® and
NanoForce® Media technology typically found
in filtration products for diesel engines could
also be used in surgical masks and N95
respirator masks worn by healthcare
professionals to help stop the spread of
COVID-19. Once we made that connection, we began
exploring partnerships to apply the filter
material to masks.
Q: How has Cummins been able to partner with
3M in an additional effort to meet the surge in
demand for PPE due to the COVID-19 outbreak?
DAVIS: We needed to move fast and saw an
opportunity to use our existing workforce at our
Neillsville, Wisconsin facility to meet this
demand. We acquired, commissioned and tested a
new pleater in a matter of weeks and have
already produced more than 41,000 filters for
3M’s PAPRs since mid-April. Internally, we talk
a lot about employee empowerment and decision
making and this project is a testament to our
employees’ ability to adapt quickly to fill an
important supply void in a totally different
market.
Q: What has the response been like from mask
manufacturers?
DAVIS: Demand has been strong – in fact, it’s
getting to the point where demand will exceed
our capacity. Seeing so many organizations
inquire about the media reinforced how critical
the need for masks was globally. We’ve talked
with Universities, health care systems, other
automotive companies and mask manufacturers
large and small about our media. To date, we’ve
supplied 6 tons of the complete composite
multilayer media that can be used in N95 masks,
and we’ve shipped 8 tons of a simpler
polypropylene media that can be used in surgical
masks.
Q: Do you plan on selling media for masks
long-term, or is this a temporary measure to
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic?
DAVIS: We’ve added manufacturing capacity and
capability to our plants and plan on continuing
to supply media for masks as long as there is
demand and a need to protect our communities
from COVID-19.
