NCL develops face masks capable of filtering out 99% bacteria

With face masks becoming mandatory for the next few months amid the ongoing pandemic, a group of scientists at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) has designed

With face masks becoming mandatory for the next few months amid the ongoing pandemic, a group of scientists at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) has designed face masks which, they say, can filter out up to 99 per cent bacteria. The mask is called ‘Biopolymer Nanocoated Medical Grade Mask’ and production of these will start in next few days.

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A team lead by Dr Syed Dastager, Dr Mahesh Dharne and Dr Shubhangi Umbarkar used CSIR-NCL’s patented bacterial nanocellulose technology along with nano coating. “The cotton cloth coated in a solution of bacterial cellulose and nano material completely prevented the penetration of bacterial growth, indicating promise as a material for face mask filter. We prepared prototype face masks using spun-bound polypropylene medical grade cloth to evaluate bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE), particulate filter efficiency (PFE), breathability, flammability, and splash resistance tests.” said Dr Dharne.

CSIR-NCL has licensed the biopolymer nanocoated technology to Pune-based MSME SETLAB INDIA. SETLAB plans to start production in next few days with 5,000 mask per day and will gradually reach the target of one lakh masks per day.

“The South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), Coimbatore, a government approved certifying nodal agency for medical textiles conducted these tests on CSIR-NCL’s sample face masks for confirming the quality. The bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) is 99.9% according to the ASTM (formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials) standard using aerosols of human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, found in the upper respiratory tract and on the skin. The particulate filter efficiency (PFE), another quality indicator for face masks, showed a high value of 92.63%, indicating high restriction of hazardous particulates,” said Dr Shubhangi Umbarkar

The face mask qualified the tests for splash resistance to measure prevention against splashes of blood and body fluids. The pressure differential indicated easy breathability through the facemask as medical grade and is of Class-1 material in the flammability test.