- This solution has successfully passed initial trials on surfaces such as glass, steel, plastic, textile and stone.
- The ProteCovid-19 solution is expected to reach the markets in the coming months, once it obtains all required authorizations.
- In such way, Ferrovial steps up the battle against coronavirus; other activities in this field include the creation of the Ferrovial Together COVID-19 fund.
Ferrovial is developing ProteCovid-19, an innovative solution for lasting protection of public places and infrastructures; this is the company’s latest initiative to combat the pandemic. This new initiative is an advance in the field of protection solutions, an area of vital importance in the current context.
For the last three months, a team of chemists, biologists and engineers assembled by Ferrovial have been working on a new formulation to provide protection that has a lasting effect due to adherence to the target surface; the latter is a major advantage, since it makes the product much more environmentally-friendly.
The solution has already been tested on a range of surfaces, including glass, stainless steel, steel, and stone, as well as textiles and plastics in Zity vehicles. The trials were a success, evidencing that, in comparison with other conventional protection solutions, ProteCovid-19 adheres to the surface, enabling places to remain virus-free for a long time. This new technology is also proving useful as a biocide that kills micro-organisms with similar characteristics to SARS-COVID-19, which causes the COVID-19 infection.
The solution, which is being developed by two startups specialized in chemistry and biology, is expected to be available in the coming months once the necessary permits for its production and use are obtained. ProteCovid-19 is backed by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), an agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, and by the EIT Urban Mobility COVID-19 project of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
As part of its commitment to combating the pandemic, the company created the “Ferrovial Together COVID-19” fund, which to date has distributed €7.22 million to institutions working against the pandemic in the social and healthcare dimensions and in research in Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Chile and Portugal.
Ferrovial also participated in other initiatives, such as setting up a temporary hospital at the Madrid convention center and developing the “CoronaMadrid” website and app along with other companies, in partnership with the Madrid Regional Government, to facilitate patient diagnosis and monitoring so as to avoid saturating the healthcare facilities and reduce the numbers requiring emergency care. It also installed drive-in testing centers in the Balearic Islands.
