Scientists at the cotton chemistry and utilisation research unit from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Louisiana have developed cotton disposable disinfecting wipes.

Disposable disinfecting wipes made from nonwoven synthetic fibres are soaked in a solution that contains germ-killing compounds called quats. The quats release readily from the synthetic-fibre wipes, but those fibres decompose slowly in landfills.

While cotton and other cellulose-based fibres are biodegradable, quats do not readily release from them. Research leader Brian Condon, molecular biologist Doug Hinchliffe, and colleagues from ARS, worked on the project with Cotton Incorporated, and discovered a new chemical formulation that allows the quats to release from nonwoven cotton, resulting in hospital-grade disinfecting cotton wipes that are both effective and biodegradable.

The ARS team worked with a quat commonly used to disinfect hard surfaces. The quat, called “ADBAC,” is a stable, cost-effective active ingredient widely used in commercially available synthetic-based disposable disinfecting wipes. The team found that ADBAC adhered so strongly to the surface of cotton fibres that it failed to release in amounts sufficient to disinfect hard surfaces.

The ARS team developed new chemical formulas that block quats from adhering strongly to the surface of cotton fibres in disposable wipes. The result is a cotton wipe that releases quats for surface disinfection and that is also strong, abrasive, and fully biodegradable.

The researchers tested wipes made from 100 per cent cotton soaked in the new ADBAC formula. The efficacy tests were conducted using Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) standards that are required for Environmental Protection Agency registration of new disinfecting products. Compliance with GLP standards allows cotton wipes that successfully sanitise surfaces against specific microorganisms to be certified as disinfectants. (GK)