Heating best method for disinfection of N95 masks, finds study

Researchers have revealed that heating was recently found to inactivate the coronavirus in solution within 5 min at 70 °C and is among the most scalable, user-friendly methods for viral disinfection of N 95 masks. Heating them preserves their filtration efficiency for 50 cycles of disinfection.The findings of the research have been reported in ACS Nano.

Scientists have been working on finding ways and means for disinfection of disposable N95 respirator masks amid shortages of personal protective equipment due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

A novel disinfection process appearing in Journal of the American College of Surgeons uses vaporized hydrogen peroxide for disinfection of disposable N95 respirator masks.

N95 masks contain a layer of "meltblown" polypropylene fibers that form a porous, breathable network. To help capture smaller particles that could slip through the holes, the fibers are electrostatically charged. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended several methods for disinfecting N95 masks, such as heating, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and bleach treatment, but so far they have not been tested extensively, especially for multiple rounds of disinfection. Yi Cui and colleagues wanted to compare five of the methods that could reasonably be used within a hospital setting to see how mask materials hold up to repeated disinfections.