Development of Broad Spectrum Hand Sanitizers and Disinfectants for the Fight Against COVID-19 Pathogens

COVID-19 first emerged in China in December 2019, resulting in one of the worst pandemics of the modern history. To this date (June 2020), about 6 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and more than 360,000 people have lost their lives to this novel disease. The cleaning and disinfecting protocols developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) have proven to be highly efficient in breaking the chain of transmission of viral pandemic diseases. As such, alcohol-based and non-alcohol-based hand sanitizer and disinfectant formulations have been highly essential in containing this current COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the fragility of the global supply chains, most countries hit by the pandemic are currently facing severe shortage of sanitizers and disinfectants, and are looking into domestic production to meet the overwhelming market demand for these products. The outcome of this project will assist a major Canadian producer of surface cleaning products to shift production and deliver a remarkable volume of high quality and certified alcohol-based and non-alcohol-based sanitizing and disinfecting products into the Canadian market in the next few months.

Faculty Supervisor:

Nariman Yousefi

Student:

Brett Lindenfield

Partner:

Walter Surface Technologies

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Ryerson University