3M, Honeywell, Battelle spotlight N95 manufacturing needs

The makers of medical-grade N95 masks are rapidly adding production in the U.S. while research giant Battelle Memorial Institute is focused on ways to safely reuse the personal protective equipment.

New U.S. Department of Defense contracts will see St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M investing more than $80 million to make another 39 million masks per month in the U.S.

Honeywell of Charlotte, N.C., has repurposed part of an aerospace plant in Phoenix to make N95 masks, delivering the first batch weeks ahead of schedule. U.S. President Donald Trump visited the site on May 5.

Five of the six main components of 3M's N95 mask use some type of plastic. Its straps are made from thermoplastic elastomers, the nose foam is polyurethane and the filter is polypropylene fiber. The mask's shell and cover both are made of polyester.

On May 7, 3M announced it was awarded two contracts through the U.S. Department of Defense in recent weeks to further expand U.S. production of N95 masks.

Officials said that the contracts are a collaboration made possible under the Defense Production Act.

"3M is working around the clock to get much-needed personal protective equipment to the nation's front-line health care workers," Chairman and CEO Mike Roman said in a news release.

The production increase will use new equipment being built in Wisconsin, where production will start in June. The equipment will eventually be relocated to a new expansion at 3M's facility in Aberdeen, S.D.

Ninety percent of 3M's U.S. mask production is going to health care facilities and first responders, officials said. The remainder of the masks are going to critical infrastructure such as food production, pharmaceuticals and energy.

In early April, 3M reached an agreement with the U.S. government that will enable FEMA to import 166.5 million 3M N95 masks into the U.S. from the firm's plants in Asia. In China, 3M expects to increase mask production capacity to 50 million per month. That amount would almost triple the firm's production rate there from 2019.

The importance of N95 masks was highlighted when President Donald Trump visited Honeywell's Phoenix site on May 5.

In the building being used for mask production in Phoenix, Honeywell removed turbines and other aerospace inventory before reconfiguring the space, officials said. The firm did that by improving the lighting, redoing some of the flooring and bringing in additional equipment, including printing machines to print the masks and ultrasonic welders to weld the bands to the masks.

Honeywell shipped its first pallet of N95 masks from Phoenix on May 1, two weeks ahead of schedule. Mask production in Phoenix is expected to create 500 new jobs.

Honeywell previously said it was installing a new N95 production line at its plant in Smithfield, R.I. That project also is expected to create 500 new jobs. Honeywell officials declined to provide a timeline for the start of the new line in Smithfield.

Battelle of Columbus, Ohio, has developed a Critical Care Decontamination System that allows N95 masks to be reused. The process can decontaminate thousands of N95 respirators using concentrated, vapor phase hydrogen peroxide, officials said.

The masks are exposed at a validated concentration level to decontaminate biological contaminants, including SARS-CoV-2. The Battelle CCDS can decontaminate the same respirator multiple times without degrading N95 respirator performance, officials added.

The Battelle CCDS is based on an FDA study that the organization completed after a 2016 contagion. Officials said that Battelle is conducting research to validate whether other equipment, including surgical masks and ventilator components, can be decontaminated using this process.

In the decontamination process, health care systems collect worn N95 masks each day. The masks then are labeled with a barcoded serial number for tracking chain of custody throughout the process. This procedure ensures that the hospital system receives its own respirators back.

Battelle CCDS operations are in place at 25 U.S. sites, with plans to add 19 more. Battelle was founded in 1929 and ranks as the world's largest nonprofit research and development organization, employing more than 22,000 at more than 60 locations.