Battelle’s machines are capable of cleaning 80,000 M-95 masks per day, and Ohio has two of these machines, located in Columbus and Beavercreek.
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Hospitals will collect their used masks. The masks will be wrapped in plastic bags and sent to Battelle.
The masks then undergo a decontamination cycle using a concentrated hydrogen peroxide vapor
The masks are then repackaged and sent back to the hospitals they came from.
“We actually keep a count of how many times each mask goes through the process so if any mask is damaged, is soiled or has other items on it, or any mask that hits that 20th cycle will be thrown away,” Lewis Von Thaer, Battelle CEO told News Center 7’s Katy Anderson.
Von Thaer said this technology is in, or en route to, places throughout the country where it is needed the most -- including New York, Seattle and Washington D.C.
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