Devan Chemicals, a worldwide developer of speciality chemicals for textiles, confirms the ability of its BI-OME fabric coating technology in reducing virus attacks in both unwashed and intensely washed fabrics. In the last few months since the pandemic set in, the company has been working with independent international laboratories in testing different fabric substrates against a range of enveloped viruses.
BI-OME is a non-metal, non-leaching silane quaternary ammonium compound and is inherently biodegradable. According to the test results, prior to washing the samples such as polyester, cotton and polycottons which were exposed to enveloped viruses including SARS-COV-2, Feline Corona, Vaccinia – the EU standard for enveloped viruses, and Porcine Respiratory virus, were treated with BI-OME technology which showed 99% and above virus reduction according to ISO 18184. After 30 minutes, BI-OME had already showed a reduction of SARS-COV-2 activity by 99.96%. Post washing, a decrease in virus reduction performance of coating technologies is expected. BI-OME has been confirmed to deliver only a minimal reduction – retaining up to 98.5% virus reduction even the fabric has been washed 25 times.
Sven Ghyselinck, CEO – Devan Chemicals shares: “In view of the COVID-19 pandemic and fast-approaching flu season, we were keen to provide textile manufacturers with concrete assurance regarding virus reduction performance on washed samples according to ISO 18184. This exceeds the limitations of the post-wash antimicrobial results most commonly shared for other technologies, giving the textile industry a clear, more precise overview of performance and wash durability.”
Devan Chemicals is continuously working towards improving the formulae in better the wash resistance while keeping the cost lower. Its BI-OME technology is already being supported by a range of companies that have diverse applications. The product is BPR (EU, TR), EPA registered and Ökotex Class-1 registered.
