CAMBRIDGE, England — November 2, 2020 — Alchemie Technology has been supported by the UK Government, through an Innovate UK Grant, to develop a breakthrough new fabric coating technology, designed to deliver more effective face coverings and support efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 worldwide. The multi-functional fabric combines antiviral and water-resistant coatings to deliver fabrics that have the potential to transform the performance of face coverings and many other textile products.
Alchemie has deployed its precision digital Novara coating technology to apply 2D-patterned, two-sided coatings to face-covering fabrics, combining antiviral with water-resistant functionalities in one material. This creates a uniquely hygienic fabric that both prevents accumulation of moisture from breath and inactivates pathogenic viruses and bacteria on contact. Dr. Simon Kew, managing director at Alchemie Technology, explained: “Face-coverings have been adopted worldwide as a key line of defense to stop the spread of COVID-19, however, the fabrics can quickly become saturated with moisture, and this becomes an ideal environment for pathogenic viruses. By both reducing moisture absorption and targeting the inactivation of pathogens with the HeiQ Viroblock chemistry, our new fabric coating technology has the potential to reduce transmission of viruses via fabric products such as face coverings.”
Alchemie Technology has partnered with textile coating innovator HeiQ to develop this unique technology, “We are very excited to be supplying HeiQ Viroblock to Alchemie Technology. Novara allows HeiQ Viroblock to be applied via a low water and energy system, and it is great to see two forward-thinking innovative ideas working together to deliver a sustainable and effective solution,” said Paul Middleton, HeiQ technical director Brandforce. HeiQ Viroblock is among the first textile technologies in the world to be proven effective against SARS-COV-2 in the laboratory and has been proven effective 99.99 percent in 30 minutes against SARS-COV-2, the COVID-19 causing virus.
Alchemie has also launched an on-demand HeiQ Viroblock coating service for manufacturers to enable this coating to be applied to many different types of fabric. “We realized early on in this project that there was a need for fabrics that could reduce viral transmission that went well beyond face coverings. We have had global interest in our HeiQ Viroblock coating services for fabric products ranging from car seats to hospital curtains,” said Dr. Kew.
Posted November 3, 2020
Source: Alchemie Technology
