In hopes of mitigating the stark shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) brought on by COVID-19, Dr. David Staack and Dr. Matt Pharr partnered with Dr. Suresh Pillai of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to study ways to recycle PPE by using radiation.
Building off an ongoing partnership researching medical device sterilization, the team shifted their focus to sterilizing and recycling PPE — most importantly, N95 respirators — using the FDA-approved method of electron beam irradiation.
The team sent brand new PPE through their radiation recycling process at the Electron Beam Research Facility at Texas A&M. While the recycled N95 masks, surgical masks, gowns and face shields were all still able to be worn appropriately, the N95 mask no longer filtered 95% of particles.
“The radiated masks ended up going from filtering 95% of particles 300 nanometers in size to only filtering between 50% and 60% of particles a few hundred nanometers in size,” Staack said. “That’s still a lot better than a homemade mask made from a T-shirt.”
While using a new mask each day is ideal, the team hopes their strategy might serve as a suitable backup when that is not possible.
The Electron Beam Research Facility is equipped for industrial use and can process and recycle 10,000 masks an hour.
Staack’s goal is to share the team’s results and distribute this critical information around the world so that everyone is better equipped to tackle a global pandemic.
“In these unprecedented times, I am proud to see the innovative and interdisciplinary research that our faculty are doing to tackle real-world problems,” said Dr. Andreas A. Polycarpou, department head. “Their work will have immediate implications for how PPE supplies can be sustained through shortages like the one our country is currently experiencing due to COVID-19.”
Featured Researchers
Dr. David Staack
- Associate Professor
- Sallie and Don Davis ’61 Career Development Professor
- Director, Engineering Laboratory Instruction
Dr. Matt Pharr
- Assistant Professor