Czech company Elmarco reports that it has developed surgical facemasks that provide more effective filtration than existing facemasks by using nanofibers made with new proprietary technology system called Nanospider that allows industrial-scale production of nanofibers. The article says that demand for surgical facemasks in Asia has increased in the past two years due to concerns that avian flu could mutate and directly transmit between humans. Nanospider is based on a technique called electrospinning, which, according to the article, has thus far been too labor intensive to be practical for industrial applications. Elmarco says its method overcomes some of the limitations of traditional electrospinning and allows for millions of square meters of nanofiber to be produced using one machine. The article says that independent tests indicate that Elmarco’s surgical masks are 99.9 percent effective at blocking viruses. Elmarco is now pursuing opportunities and partnerships to expand commercial applications of the Nanospider technology.
