FDA approves Battelles process to decontaminate N95 face masks but limits it to 10,000 per day

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the limited use of a process that would clean much-needed N95 protective face masks and allow them to be reused, the agency said in a release. Columbus-Ohio based Battelle uses a “vapor phase hydrogen peroxide” process to decontaminate the masks being used by healthcare providers and others to protect against the spread of COVID-19. Battelle says its Critical Care Decontamination Systems could decontaminate up to 80,000 masks per day.

But the FDA is restricting the number of masks that Battelle can decontaminate with its process to 10,000 per day. From the FDA release:

Battelle is authorized to decontaminate up to 10,000 compatible N95 respirators per day, consistent with the data provided...

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