The National Research
Council of Canada (NRC), in
collaboration with Environment & Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Health
Canada (HC) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), is seeking solutions for the
manufacture of compostable disposable surgical masks and compostable disposable
respirators to be used by healthcare workers.
Outcomes
Essential (mandatory) outcomes
The proposed solution must:
- Lead to the industrial scale
manufacturing of compostable disposable surgical masks (at least Level 1)
and/or compostable disposable respirators (at least N95 equivalent).
Applicants must reach a production capacity of 1 million masks / month at
the end of Phase 2, and they must clearly provide their plans for larger
scale manufacturing and commercialization.
- Demonstrate compliance with the
requirements of one of the two ASTM standard specifications, whichever is
applicable: For example, products made of compostable biopolymers are
certified to ASTM D6400, whereas, products made of compostable polymer
coatings on paper or other compostable substrates are certified to ASTM
D6868.
- Be manufactured in Canada.
- Demonstrate, via a cost
analysis, that reasonable cost targets can be met to support
commercial/market adoption.
- Bring environmental benefits
compared to conventional, non-compostable equivalents, as demonstrated by
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA).
Additional outcomes
The proposed solution
should:
- Lead to the large-scale
manufacturing of compostable disposable surgical masks with superior
properties (e.g. Level 2, Level 3) and/or compostable disposable
respirators with superior properties (e.g. N99-equivalent,
N100-equivalent) complying with the requirements of the appropriate ASTM
standard (see Essential Outcome 3), as demonstrated by prototypes and test
data, and have the potential to be authorized by Health Canada.
- Be usable for the large-scale
manufacturing of compostable disposable non-medical masks and complying
with the requirements of the appropriate ASTM standard as demonstrated by
prototypes and test data
Funding Information
- Phase 1
- The maximum funding available
for any Phase 1 Grant resulting from this Challenge is: $300,000.00 CAD
- The maximum duration for any
Phase 1 Grant resulting from this Challenge is: 4 months
- Phase 2
- The maximum funding available
for any Phase 2 Grant resulting from this Challenge is: $1,000,000.00 CAD
- The maximum duration for any
Phase 2 Grant resulting from this Challenge is: 8 months
Eligibility Criteria
Solution proposals can
only be submitted by a small business that meets all of the following criteria:
- for profit
- incorporated in Canada
(federally or provincially)
- 499 or fewer full-time
equivalent (FTE) employees
- research and development
activities that take place in Canada
- 50% or more of its annual
wages, salaries and fees are currently paid to employees and contractors
who spend the majority of their time working in Canada
- 50% or more of its FTE
employees have Canada as their ordinary place of work
- 50% or more of its senior
executives (Vice President and above) have Canada as their principal
residence
Opening date: October 16 2020