Incon's New Business Mask Filter... "Verified Effectiveness in Blocking Viruses like COVID-19"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Incon announced on the 30th that its nonwoven fabric for filters (hereafter melt-blown) has been verified by the FITI Testing & Research Institute to have filter capabilities sufficient to block viruses such as the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). FITI Testing & Research Institute is a domestic research institution that provides testing and analysis, quality inspection, and quality assurance services related to textiles, industrial materials, environmental resources, and microorganisms.

Incon succeeded in passing the test performance evaluation by FITI Testing & Research Institute for the melt-blown fabric scheduled to be supplied to Gangjin I&C as part of its new business of supplying raw and subsidiary materials. The melt-blown fabric that Incon imports and supplies has a basis weight of 40gsm (gram per square meter) and can be used as a filter for KF94 masks. Basis weight is a unit indicating the weight of fabric measuring 1m by 1m and represents the density of the mask filter; the higher the basis weight, the better the filter performance.

An Incon official stated, “The melt-blown fabric supplied by Incon recorded a dust collection efficiency of 97%, demonstrating filter performance sufficient for manufacturing KF94 masks,” and added, “Since filter performance equivalent to KF94 is required to block the COVID-19 virus, this effectively verifies that Incon’s filter has virus blocking effects.”

As the number of domestic mask manufacturers has increased significantly, the demand for nonwoven fabric for mask filters has also surged explosively. However, melt-blown fabric that passes mask performance evaluations remains difficult to secure. In March, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA evaluated 28 types of melt-blown samples from 9 countries, but only 3 samples passed the KF mask performance evaluation. As a result, the government has promoted filter imports, indicating that it is difficult to find suppliers that meet quality standards for mask filters.

An Incon official said, “Since the melt-blown fabric provided by Incon has been quality-certified by professional institutions, it will be possible to supply it in earnest from July,” and added, “Currently, masks using melt-blown fabric without confirmed test reports are circulating in the market, so we expect to produce masks with differentiated competitiveness through quality certification.”

Incon plans to supply mask raw and subsidiary materials, including the melt-blown fabric verified this time, to Gangjin I&C. This is according to the mask raw material supply contract worth 20 billion KRW announced on the 15th, with the supply period set for one year from June 15 this year to June 14 next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.