The team conducted several tests for cleaning N95 respirators, and found that a 70 percent alcohol solution, bleach, high-pressure sterilization and rice cooker were all effective sterilization methods, Lai said. Dry steaming masks for three minutes using a rice cooker can kill up to 99.7 percent of germs, he said, adding that this method lowered the mask’s filter quality by the least — about 10 percent. Lai said he also conducted a study using surgical masks and found that dry steaming them using a rice cooker was also more efficient than using alcohol or high-pressure sterilization. Dry steaming the same mask five times gradually reduced its filter efficiency to 10 percent, he said. A mask’s filter efficiency needs to be more than 80 percent to qualify, he said.

Source: Taipei Times February 14, 2020 15:56 UTC