Why plastics are essential during the coronavirus pandemic
Plastics have played a key role in assisting healthcare workers and members of society during the coronavirus pandemic.
Single-use plastics
Some government bodies, including in the U.S. states of New York and Maine, have stopped eco-driven plans to implement bans on single-use plastics such as retail shopping bags, as they are less likely to spread germs than frequently reused fabric carriers. Others have un-banned expanded polystyrene food containers, as they are unquestionably effective as packages for take-out and home-delivery food from restaurants.
Additionally, the demand for certain types of plastic-intensive products is soaring. This includes housings and parts for medical gear such as respirators and ventilators, as well as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers such as masks, gowns, and goggles. As hospitals and clinics in some areas struggle to keep up with the patient influx, other standard medical products continue to help the cause – from polycarbonate syringes and intravenous components, to polyvinyl chloride medical tubing and blood bags.
3D printing
Additive manufacturing has a vital role to play as well. Recently, an Italian 3D printing start-up called Issinova, reverse-engineered a valve for a ventilator machine, and within hours was able to produce replacements for out-of-stock valves that helped to save the lives of several people in a hospital in Brescia. Local news reports said the company used a filament extrusion process and several Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) machines to 3D print a plastic valve at a cost of about $1 per part. The original part costs about $11,000, according to the report. Others see additional opportunities to use 3D printing to produce critical, in-demand medical components in the face of ongoing parts shortages.
Single-use face masks
Styrenic resin supplier Ineos Styrolution, sent 20,000 single-use face masks to be distributed to communities across local districts of Foshan and Ningbo, in support of China’s response to coronavirus. Ineos says it sourced these supplies through its networks within the Asia Pacific region. The firm sent 10,000 single-use face masks to Sanshui Center of Disease Control in Foshan, as well as to the Ningbo Petrochemical Economic and Technological Development Zone in Ningbo.
Copper-infused compounds
Carefully formulated plastic compounds are also helping the cause. Tennessee-based Techmer has been working for years with supplier Cupron, which uses a patented process to produce oxidised copper that, when compounded with different types of resins, yields a material that can kill bacteria.
Techmer blends the copper with polymers such as polypropylene, polyester and nylon, and supplies it in pellet or flake form to firms such as Virginia-based EOS Surfaces, which press-moulds it to make solid surface countertops and tables that have been proven to dramatically reduce the incidence of Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs), such as staph infections. Cupron is now testing the additive, which also can be impregnated in fabrics (such as bed linens, hospital gowns or face masks) to confirm its effectiveness against the Covid-19 virus.
Others have long been incorporating antimicrobial additives into plastic compounds to reduce the transmission of various diseases.
Chinaplas 2020
You can learn more about these fast-advancing materials and equipment technologies that are enabling these life-saving applications, at Chinaplas 2020. This 34th edition of the show will take place from 3rd to 6th August 2020, at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, after having been postponed from its original dates in April because of the coronavirus. You can register for the event here.