In these times of COVID-19 pandemic and widespread shortages of - PDF document

COVID19@CELLULOTECH.COM COVID-19 
 PROPOSED SOLUTION TO TACKLE RAPIDLY THE MASK SHORTAGE AROUND THE WORLD AND STOP THE EPIDEMIC IN ITS TRACK EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ๏ In these times of COVID-19 pandemic and widespread shortages of essential medical protection equipment, Cellulotech’s proposes a solution (patent pending) allowing for the fast, non-expensive ($0.05/unit) and massive production of protective face-masks through a repurposing of the paper industry. ๏ Chromategony, a chemical reaction discovered by our chief scientist, Dr. Daniel Samain, makes paper permanently hydrophobic. Masks made out of chromatogeny treated paper can thus stop droplets containing viruses and offer great filtering properties while simultaneously allowing for greater breathability. Prototypes are currently being tested by certified laboratories. ๏ Cellulotech is a R&D only company. We are looking for partners to bring this solution to market. As of the 10th of April our material has been approved in France as a type 1 mask (use by professionals in contact with the public) and achieved a 98% filtration efficiency. POTENTIAL PRODUCTION ESTIMATED TIME TO ESTIMATED UNIT COST CAPACITY PRODUCTION BILLIONS / DAY $0.05 Days to few weeks 1

COVID19@CELLULOTECH.COM «The chronic, global shortage of personal protective equipment is one of the most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives.» Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization BACKGROUND A greater availability of protective masks would very likely help slow down and limit the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately, current inventories and production capacity, even with all the e ff orts being put in place, are not su ffi cient to deal with the current crisis. Even front-line medical professionals are confronting worrying shortages. Not only then should we protect lives but we should allow people to resume work under safe conditions as the world is facing a potential economic crisis. Masks obviously need to display the most e ffi cient COVID-19 barrier properties, but in an ideal world, they should also be comfortable to wear, easy to produce, a ff ordable and manufactured from non-limited, recyclable, starting materials available everywhere. This is not the case today where masks are far too Example of simple complex and costly for the need of the general protective mask from face population. The main fabric used, melt blown tissue (attached with rubber polypropylene, is very di ffi cult to make and is currently in shortage. This overengineering is the reason why the mask industry cannot cope with the current epidemic. In fact, given today’s mask technologies and manufacturing capabilities, providing the world’s population with unlimited amounts of breathing masks is currently a pipe dream. Yet, given the spread and strength of COVID-19, this has to remain a policy goal. And in order to achieve this policy goal, we need a change of paradigm. A CHANGE OF PARADIGM Another example, o ff ering better fitting and Virus particles have neither wings nor legs. They are breathability devoid of any metabolism and have to rely on “public transportation” to get from one host to another. For 2

COVID19@CELLULOTECH.COM enveloped virus particles, these public transportation IiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii systems are the aqueous droplets that humans execrate iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiii when talking, sneezing, or coughing. Masks work by iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiii stopping aqueous droplets containing the virus iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii particles. Masks work by preventing infected people iiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiii from spreading the disease, and symmetrically iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii protecting healthy people from being contaminated. iIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Paper products have long been considering for mask making as they are widely available, low priced and Water droplet sliding on a face tissue treated by chromatogeny environment friendly and known for their filtering properties. Their use in medical mask confection has however been hampered by their hydrophilicity. An aqueous droplet loaded with virus particles deposited on one side of a conventional hydrophilic paper sheet is submitted to strong capillary forces, which then carry the virus particles to the other side of the sheet. Cellulotech’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Daniel Samain, has been working for more than 20 years to solve this issue. He made a breakthrough discovery and developed a competitive new process coined Chromatogeny, which allows hydrophilic cellulose- based materials (such as paper) to be rendered permanently strongly hydrophobic (i.e.: water-proof) though their chemical reaction with long chain fatty acid chlorides. Furthermore, Dr. Daniel Samain has recently shown that application of this technology to multiple plies very thin paper products (such as facial tissues) resulted in unexpected impressive water proofing, while preserving the initial exceptional breathability of these products. We thus believe that the answer to the global mask issue lies in the hydrophobation of already massively produced facial tissues through the use of chromatogeny. Virus loaded aqueous droplets would then be e ffi ciently prevented from getting in or out, providing wholesome anti- viral protection. Most importantly, the process doesn’t a ff ect the breathability of the tissue giving rise to outstanding breathing comfort. The production capacity of paper and facial tissues is more than large enough to cover global needs. Around 25 billion face tissues are produced in the world every single day. 100ml of water inside a 1g Stearic acid chloride, one chemical reagent used in the face tissue after 10 days. No leakage. chromatogeny reaction, is currently commercially available in thousand of tons amounts. A chromatogeny treatment of 7 billion face tissues, to in essence turn “Kleenexes 3

COVID19@CELLULOTECH.COM into face-masks” would require only 28 tons of this reagent. We are convinced that with the support of the governments and the paper and printing industry, retrofitting paper printing lines in order to be able to use chromatogeny would take just a few days to a few weeks. Industrial feasibility of the chromatogeny process has already been demonstrated both in France and in South Korea where facilities could be tapped to start production very early on. ADVANTAGES OF THE SOLUTION a) SCALE AND TIME TO PRODUCTION The main advantage of this solution is that it is a simple « add-on » to something already produced massively every single day: facial tissues. Regarding the attach system, one rudimentary solution but yet e ff ective and easy to scale up is to use simple elastic bands and staples (see pictures below), but other solutions are available. In order to save time, people could be delivered the treated face tissues in boxes of hundreds as well as rubber bands and staples. They’d be able to make their own masks without any problem and such box could last weeks if not months. We have however developed a mask design especially suited to facial tissues, and yet could be assembled easily by individuals in a short time. These masks are: - much more sturdy, - much more protective because of their very good morphological fit - quite comfortable to wear during prolonged periods because of their outstanding breathability which is partly conferred by the mask design and shape. b) ESTIMATED COST We have used wholesale costs in our estimation rather than production cost to take into account the industry’s margin as well as transportation costs. Wholesale cost of one face tissue (3-ply) $ 0.02 Wholesale cost of two rubber band $0.03 Wholesale cost of two staples $0.002 Wholesale cost steraic acid (per face tissue) $0.0016 TOTAL UNIT COST $ 0.0536 4