A decontamination wipe designed by researchers at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech University has proven to be highly effective at cleaning up chemical warfare agents and toxic chemicals.
The evaluation of the nonwoven dry wipe product, called Fibertect, was performed as part of a study by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory using mustard gas and other toxic chemicals.
Researchers found that the Texas Tech product outperformed 30 different decontamination materials, including materials currently used in military decontamination kits.
‘Needlepunch nonwoven technology has been used to develop this flexible, adsorbent material that can be used not only as a decontamination wipe, but also as the liner of protective suits, filters and masks,’ said Seshadri Ramkumar, who supervises the Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech.
‘The material is flexible, doesn’t contain loose particles and is capable of cleaning intricate parts of everything from the human body to the control panel of a fighter jet,’ he added.
The product features an activated carbon core sandwiched between an absorbent layer on the top and the bottom
The technology has been licensed by Texas Tech’s Office of Technology Commercialisation to Waco-based Hobbs Bonded Fibers. The company is putting together a global marketing team to expedite the commercialisation of the Fibertect product.
The initial member of the team is the Bellator Group, which has a successful history of commercialising products into the military sector.
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