Cheltenham manufacturer's graphene enhanced mask certified to higher FFP3 standard

Published by

Nicky Godding

Graphene enhanced facemasks developed by Versarien plc, the Cheltenham headquartered advanced materials engineering group, have been certified as meeting the FFP3 standard, the highest standard under the European EN149 standard for filtering half face masks.

The company's wholly owned Chinese subsidiary, Beijing Versarien Technology Company Limited, has been working on further developments of the masks.

The testing, to the European EN149 standard, was carried out in China by SGS-CSTC Standards Technical Services Co. Ltd a joint venture founded in 1991 between SGS Group, a world leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, and China Standard Science and Technology Group.

Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, said: "We are delighted that the latest version of our mask has passed the rigorous FFP3 testing process. Whilst we currently have an FFP2 mask on sale that we believe compares very well with other masks available, being able to offer a non-valve FFP3 mask with anti-viral properties is a significant further step and we intend to bring these masks to the market as soon as possible."

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.