Paper gowns developed to support front line workers during COVID-19

A Melbourne-based team of researchers has developed a novel way to help address the global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This shortage has left people around the world, in particular workers on the front line, at risk of infection.

The team at the Bioresource Processing Institute of Australia (BioPRIA) has come up with an ingenious solution, which uses paper as an alternative material for the creation of PPE gowns.

The initiative was led by BioPRIA, working in close partnership with the Australasian Pulp and Paper Technical Association (APPITA). They were supported by a panel of industry experts including paper manufacturers, functional coating manufacturers, pulp and paper researchers, biologists and material scientists, and together they formed the COVID-19 PPE task force team.

Laminated papers were tested for their barrier properties, mechanical strength and virus protection, with the team successfully managing to create a material capable of meeting the legislations and regulatory requirements of the AAMI PB70 standard for gowns.

Source - BioPRIA PALS Newsletter