Decontamination of SARS-CoV-2 and Other RNA Viruses from N95 Level Meltblown Polypropylene Fabric Using Heat under Different Humidities

Campos, Rafael K.; Jin, Jing; Rafael, Grace H.; Zhao, Mervin; Liao, Lei; Simmons, Graham; Chu, Steven; Weaver, Scott C.; Chiu, Wah; Cui, Yi

doi:10.1021/acsnano.0c06565

Decontamination of SARS-CoV-2 and Other RNA Viruses from N95 Level Meltblown Polypropylene Fabric Using Heat under Different Humidities

Journal Article · Mon Sep 21 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · ACS Nano

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c06565· OSTI ID:1769615

Campos, Rafael K. ^[1]; Jin, Jing ^[2]; Rafael, Grace H. ^[1]; ^[3]; Liao, Lei ^[3]; Simmons, Graham ^[4]; Chu, Steven ^[5]; Weaver, Scott C. ^[1]; ^[6]; ^[6]

Univ. of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
4C Air, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (United States)
Vitalant Research Inst., San Francisco, CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

In March of 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The pandemic led to a shortage of N95-grade filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), especially surgical-grade N95 FFRs for protection of healthcare professionals against airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We and others have previously reported promising decontamination methods that may be applied to the recycling and reuse of FFRs. In this study we tested disinfection of three viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, dried on a piece of meltblown fabric, the principal component responsible for filtering of fine particles in N95-level FFRs, under a range of temperatures (60–95 °C) at ambient or 100% relative humidity (RH) in conjunction with filtration efficiency testing. We found that heat treatments of 75 °C for 30 min or 85 °C for 20 min at 100% RH resulted in efficient decontamination from the fabric of SARS-CoV-2, human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63), and another enveloped RNA virus, chikungunya virus vaccine strain 181/25 (CHIKV-181/25), without lowering the meltblown fabric’s filtration efficiency.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 1769615

Journal Information:: ACS Nano, Journal Name: ACS Nano Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 14; ISSN 1936-0851

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Decontamination of SARS-CoV-2 and Other RNA Viruses from N95 Level Meltblown Polypropylene Fabric Using Heat under Different Humidities

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