On January 23, the last working day before the Spring Festival, an emergency document issued by ChemChina arrived at Zhonghao Chenguang, which required great efforts to fight against novel coronavirus pneumonia by all enterprises. Nerves of Li Jia, Zhonghao Chenguang’s General Manager, were frayed. She thought about how to operate the production equipment while mobilizing managers and employees to purchase epidemic prevention materials. On Chinese New Year's Eve, it was lucky enough to get 1000 N95 masks and several infrared thermometers. Besides, the total inventory was less than 3000 common masks, far from enough to support the normal production. While seeking out the masks, Li Jia was divided over whether to stop production. The masks were going to be used up soon, and it was almost inevitable to stop operation of the plant.

An inspiring joke

A few days later, Li’s colleagues in purchase department managed to take 9000 masks back. But these highly anticipated masks made everyone disappointed: the pores of gauze fabric were too big to play a protective role at all. Xiao Ping, assistant general manager and chief business officer, said, "if only we could improve the filtering effect of gauze masks." Li Jia joked: "let's dress it up, shall we?” Her word seemed to open a door, reminding everyone coincidentally of their main product e-PTFE microporous membrane. 

This kind of membrane independently developed and produced by Zhonghao Chenguang has good barrier property, air permeability and water resistance, which is favored in the fields of medicine, environmental protection and air purification. The company had used it to make chemical protective clothing for its own use. Compared with the rubber fabric one, it is light and breathable.

People at Zhonghao Chenguang soon sewed the gauze mask and the membrane together to make a new mask and tested it by electron microscope observation and air permeability. Different from the electrostatic filtration principle of meltblown fabric, the new material is applied to physical isolation. There are many tiny holes on the membrane, which can cover the fabric with a filter material. A commando team was set up for making the special masks. Membrane processing production line started and the combination method of membrane and gauze fabric was improved. On the third day, the daily output of the new mask exceeded 1,000.

A further step

Zhonghao Chenguang's innovative move brightened up ChemChina leaders who have been worrying about the shortage of masks. They hope that Zhonghao Chenguang can contribute to the safety protection of 80,000 employees of ChemChina, but only if the new mask passes the inspection of the authority and is recognized by the market supervision department. Li Jia, who never thought it would be so grand, realized that the company not only could protect itself but also contributed to a larger fight against epidemic.

After several days and nights of hard work, the new PTFE membrane mask sample, which is lighter and more breathable and has longer service life and better filtering effect, was successfully offline. On February 8, the samples were sent to Guangzhou for inspection in a professional institution designated by the State. On February 11, the test result proved filtration efficiency of the masks reached 99.2%, in full compliance with KN95 standards.

Supported by the local government, Zhonghao Chenguang got one semi-automatic mask production line, which was particularly valuable at the time. The company's employees received urgent training and worked overtime to ensure the output of 50,000 masks every day. Due to the lack of automatic packaging line, they had to pack the masks manually.

So far, the company has sent 700,000 masks to ChemChina subsidiaries, effectively ensuring their resumption of production. After passing the EU CE and US FDA certification on March 24 and 25, 400,000 masks were ready to be sent out to ChemChina overseas subsidiaries in Italy, Germany, United States, France, Russia and other countries.

A mask, originally created as a consideration for the safety of employees, was pushed to grow up to be a big deal. It seemed unexpected but reasonable. It scored on the scientific and technological strength Zhonghao Chenguang has accumulated for years.