IIT startup develops ozone-based decontamination device

16 Jul '20

3 min read

Pic: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi incubated startup, Chakr Innovation, has developed an ozone-based decontamination device to contaminate N95 masks, enabling their safe reuse. The machine has been designed especially for hospitals with an automated cycle ensuring easy identification and traceability. It inactivates Covid-19 virus and kills bacteria.

This decontamination device - Chakr DeCoV - has been launched at a time when the country needs it most to strengthen the fight against Covid-19 pandemic as unsafe re-use of N95 masks may put lives of the healthcare professionals at risk. Moreover, increase in the biomedical waste could cause additional infection and environmental risk.

Determined to solve these problems, IAN Fund-backed cleantech startup came up with this unique, cost-effective technology that helps decontaminate N95 masks in only 90 minutes for safe reuse.

Designed in the shape of a cabinet, Chakr DeCoV is built with an innovative decontamination mechanism, which utilises the high penetrability of Ozone gas for cleaning the pores of the N95 mask, ensuring complete decontamination of its intricate layers. Ozone is a strong oxidising agent that destroys viruses by diffusing through the protein coat, resulting in damage to the viral RNA. Proper dosage and exposure of Ozone can result in inactivation of SARS CoV-2 and a 99.9999 per cent reduction in bacterial load, after which an N95 mask can be reused for up to 10 times without any impact on the filtration efficiency (as tested by SITRA).

Some of the commonly available systems with UV light-based decontamination are insufficient due to shadow effects and limited penetration through the pores of N95 masks.

The team at Chakr Innovation, led by Tushar Batham, VP, Engineering, has developed this product under the close guidance of professors and researchers at IIT Delhi. The technology has been tested at IIT Delhi’s Centre for Biomedical Engineering and has undergone rigorous in-house testing for safety and reliability.

The viricidal effectiveness has also been tested by ICMR-NIV showing virus inactivation in desired material (permeable material including N95 masks). The system is designed with biosafety door and a catalytic reduction system to ensure utmost safety against any human exposure to ozone.

The startup is running successful pilots for this product in Pune and is now ready to scale this well-tested and reliable product.

Kushagra Srivastava, CEO, Chakr Innovation, said “Chakr DeCoV is built with an innovative ozone-based decontamination mechanism, which ensure effective decontamination with high reliability and safety, as needed in a hospital environment. We also believe that our product will help solve the rising concerns over biomedical waste generation while treating novel coronavirus disease. We are glad to have received support from the organisations such as ICICI, Coal India and Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited for our project, who have funded the development and pilot deployment."

Speaking of the technological innovation by Chakr Innovation, Prof V Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT Delhi said, "IIT Delhi is committed to addressing the COVID-19 problem through its technological prowess. When it comes to serving the hospitals and our medical professionals, there is a need for providing high quality PPEs and at the same time ensure their possible reuse and a safe disposal. This is essential from a biosafety point of view. It is heartening to see Chakr Innovation working in this direction and building this product to mitigate the challenges posed by this pandemic.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SV)

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