D.F. Brandt, Inc. and Condair’s ML Systems Group were selected to provide, install and commission a critical high-pressure atomizing humidification system for Tess Plastics’ Auburn, NY Covid-19 test kit manufacturing facility. The facility was designed to manufacture 10 million Covid-19 test kits per month and was completed in 15 weeks.

Maintaining stable humidity levels in plastic molding operations is critical as nylon begins to absorb moisture immediately from the point it is released from the mold. Engineers have long noted that nylon and polymer components in dry winter conditions can exhibit reduced material strength. Preconditioning the finished molded product by maintaining ideal space humidity levels of 40-50% RH allows the product to reach moisture equilibrium more quickly from the raw material dry pellet stage of 0.2% moisture content to the desired 2% final moisture content.  The result is a significantly stronger, more mechanically stable finished product suitable for use across a wider range of environmental conditions.

The Tessy facility includes two clean rooms encompassing 135,000 square feet of manufacturing space. An ML Systems MLP RO 300 pump skid conditions and supplies 600 lb/hr of deionized water at 1000 psi to 120 Flex™ nozzles mounted to the ceiling grid of these spaces. The ML Systems pump skid provides UV disinfection and a system-wide hygienic flush sequence to prevent bacterial growth.

The installation of our high-pressure adiabatic humidification system offers enormous energy savings over baseline humidification systems and in this case Tessy Plastics will receive a utility incentive in excess of $64,000.