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Novel Plastic
Film Capable Of Deactivating 99.99% Of New Coronavirus In 15 Minutes
A consortium comprised by companies Braskem, AplFilm
and Nanox and the UFSCar (Brazil) and Jaume I of Castellón (Spain) universities
have released a plastic film capable of deactivating 99.99% of the new
coronavirus in 15 minutes.
The scientific collaboration initiated 15 years ago
between the UFSCar and UJI with company Nanox had already developed in 2014 a
product with antifungal and bactericidal properties: a transparent PVC film with
silver microparticles which has now given way to the technology patented by
Nanox wih the support of the Vinyl Application Engineering team of Braskem and
AlpFilm.
Silica is a semiconductor that becomes active with
metallic silver to generate highly oxidative molecules capable of deactivating
79.9% of the new coronavirus in three minutes and 99.99% in just 15 minutes. The
product is already available on the market and is commonly used to pack food
items such as meat, fruit, vegetables and cold meats, and could now also be used
to protect surfaces.
The tests to verify the power of the new plastic
packages to suppress SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, were conducted
at the level 3 biosecurity laboratory of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of
the University of São Paulo (ICB-USP) in compliance with ISO 21702:2019, the
technical standard to measure the antiviral activity in plastics and other
non-porous surfaces. Companies Braskem and AlpFilm improved the film's formula,
maximizing the protection potential against fungi and
bacteria, achieving the virucidal effect.
The technology developed by Nanox, managed by doctor
Gustavo Simões, had the support of the Innovative Research Programme for Small
Companies (PIPE) of the FAPESP, and the scientific guidance of professor Elson
Longo from the Centre for the Development of Functional Materials (CDMF), the
Federal University of São Carlos and professor Juan Andrés Bort, head of the
Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry of the Jaume I University
of Castellón.
PVC solutions enable the production of a series of
essential products ranging from medical and hospital products to packages, which
ensure food safety, hygiene and cleanliness, among other factors, bolstering the
fight against COVID-19," explains Almir Cotias, Vinyls director at Braskem
Business, department responsible for the production of the raw material for PVC
film AlpFilm Protecto.
The product existed since 2014 with antifungal and
bactericidal properties thanks to the presence of silver microparticles, but
with the pandemic, we subjected it to a series of studies to adapt its
composition in order to ensure its antiviral efficiency. Faced with the
challenges imposed by COVID-19, we decided to focus our attention on researching
and developing this product evolution to deactivate the new coronavirus by
contact."
Alessandra Zambaldi, Director of Foreign Trade and
Marketing, AlpFilm
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210208/Novel-plasticfilm-can-deactivate-999925-of-the-new-coronavirus-in-15-minutes.aspx
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