The Battelle Critical Care Contamination System designed to sanitize N95 respirator masks for reuse by medical professionals arrived last week at the now vacant Kmart auto shop space at Assembly Square.

By Jim Clark

Somerville’s Assembly Row will be playing host to a mechanical system that is capable of sterilizing as many as 80,000 respirator masks per day, a tremendous boon to medical facilities engaged in the fight against the current COVID-19 epidemic.

The system’s creators, Columbus, OH, non-profit Battelle has coordinated with the City of Somerville and PartnersHealthCare to set up the system in the now vacant Kmart auto shop area.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone secured use of the site by invoking the emergency powers available to him as a response to the current coronavirus crisis.

The mayor issued a public statement on the matter saying, “We’ve got to move fast and be nimble to handle the coming coronavirus surge. It hasn’t even been a week since Battelle’s technology got approved by the FDA. Partners is able to bring it over and we’re able to provide them with a facility where they can use it. This is how it’s supposed to work in a crisis. Everybody comes together to do big things. The whole purpose of having emergency powers at a time like this is to use them. In this case we’re able to put technology into production that’s going to protect the frontline healthcare workers who are protecting all of us.”

The system is expected to be made available for use by several medical facilities in the region, decontaminating the N95 masks that would normally be discarded after a single use. With the Battelle system, up the masks can be sanitized for reuse up to 20 times.

The Battelle CCDS™ can decontaminate thousands of N95 respirators using concentrated, vapor phase hydrogen peroxide. The respirators are exposed at the validated concentration level to decontaminate biological contaminants.

Technicians at work decontaminating N95 masks.
— Photo courtesy of Battelle

According to Battelle, the technology draws on decades of research and is grounded on an FDA study the company completed following a 2016 contagion. Battelle is currently conducting research to validate that other equipment, including surgical masks and ventilator components, can be decontaminated using this process.

Healthcare systems will collect worn N95 respirators each day in accordance with an approved procedure, and the PPE will be labeled with a barcoded serial number for tracking the chain-of-custody throughout the decontamination process. This procedure ensures that the hospital system receives its own respirators back.

Battelle has also served the military in protecting troops from chemical and biological hazards. The company operates Biosafety Level 2 and 3 labs where research is performed on live viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Battelle also has a full medical device development team that works with the FDA on a regular basis.

The Battelle CCDS system at Assembly Row is expected to be fully operational by the end of the week.

The Battelle CCDS being delivered at the Assembly Square location.