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SINGAPORE – Singapore is now able to produce its own high-quality mask filters, at such a rate that everyone here can have two filters every week, in case the Covid-19 pandemic worsens and global stocks run out again.
Therefore, the country will have a sustainable supply on hand should the crisis require Singaporeans to switch to higher grade surgical quality masks, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said on Thursday (28 de January).
As these filters are designed to be used with reusable masks, Singapore will also be less reliant on the raw materials needed to make traditional surgical masks, he noted.
Explaining the importance of this development, Chan recounted how Singapore faced a “critical vulnerability” in its supply chain when it began producing surgical masks last year.
He couldn’t get enough material called molten polypropylene, which is used in the filtration layer of a standard surgical mask.
But ST Engineering has now acquired the machines and knowledge to produce such filters, which stand up well to similar products available globally, Chan said.
“They are much lighter, much more breathable and have a much higher filtration capacity, yet we can produce them at a competitive price,” he added.
The minister spoke to reporters after a closed-door visit to ST Engineering on Thursday morning.
Singapore began designing plans to mass-produce surgical masks last year amid a shortage of face masks around the world in the early months of the pandemic, with new filter production machines arriving in the second half of the year.
At the same time, scientists had to find the right formulation for the new filters.
“At first, we thought we could buy the machine and be able to do this,” Chan said. “But we quickly realized that we need to have a deep understanding of the science behind how the filter works so that we can produce the correct composition, to get to the final material that we want.”
The new filter inserts, made from melt blown polypropylene, are designed to fit into a reusable mask and can last an average of three days.
They are made from polypropylene pellets, which are “readily available throughout the world.” In the future, specialized chemical plants on Jurong Island could also produce this raw material, Chan said.
He added that the new filter inserts will not be distributed to Singaporeans yet, as the reusable masks that were delivered provide adequate protection for the country’s current needs amid the pandemic.
Singapore has not gotten to the point where it has to deliver the new filters, he said, adding: “We hope we never have to get to that point.”
Instead, the country will accumulate its reserves of these filters for future needs.
Cast polypropylene can also be used in other products like surgical gowns, or it can even be applied in other industries like water filtration, he said.
The minister added that the development of national capacity to produce these mask inserts is part of a “continuous process to strengthen our supply chain.”
Singapore applies the same thought process to all products that are critical to the country’s needs, he said.
“It’s never-ending work to keep diversifying, keep examining the critical bottlenecks to solving the problem so that we are not subject to the vagaries of supply chain disruptions.
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