30+ Years in the Making
Originally registered with the EPA in 1976 and used commercially since that time, the technology behind Triton’s TriBan Antimicrobial System has been reviewed and re-reviewed by hundreds of companies, scientists, and academics, and confirmed in the real world with more than 30 years of problem-free and highly-effective use.
Triton’s TriBan Antimicrobial System
Building on the strength of 30+ years of safe and proven effectiveness, Triton Technology Group and our manufacturing partners enhanced technology originally developed by Dow-Corning.
Triton’s TriBan Antimicrobial System is a patented, water stabilized, EPA registered, USDA accepted technology. Additionally, we have developed proprietary, state-of-the-art application protocols and procedures to enhance and ensure the optimization of efficacy, performance, and durability.
Today, the exceptional value of the Triton’s TriBan Antimicrobial Technology at providing long-term protection against bacteria, fungi (mold), and algae and their staining, odors, defacement, and human health effects is played out in a wide variety of medical, consumer, and commercial products.
With a compelling history of successful use and undeniable validation of its effectiveness, together with Triton’s sales and technical support, you can have complete confidence in using this technology as a proactive antimicrobial in your institutional, commercial, and consumer settings and applications.
Whether you are incorporating our technology into your facilities, products or manufacturing, you can be assured that the best available technology and technical expertise is hard at work for you.
Developing the Antimicrobial Technology
Dow Corning Corporation, the largest supplier of silicone and silane chemicals in the world, began a pure research program in the late 1960’s to see if it could utilize the unique properties of its silane technology to deliver pesticides. Silanes are complex chemical compounds, based on the element silicon, which are used primarily to change the surface characteristics (adhesion, water repellency, cleanability, etc.) of other materials. In general, they react easily with a target surface to form a new, durable surface which now has the desired properties.
In plain English, they asked: Is it possible for a pesticide to be durably tied to target surfaces with a silane that: 1) will be effective for extended periods of time, and 2) will not have the classic pesticide problem of migration into the environment by leaching or volatilizing? If so, the outcome would be safer, more efficient, and more effective pesticides.
A tremendous variety of chemicals were made and tested. These included all kinds of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and bactericides. The screening tests included standard ASTM protocols, other standard tests, and a variety of toxicological and environmental impact reviews. Out of this work came several patents and a focused effort on a particularly promising group of antimicrobials.
This brought the most promising of materials into the commercialization stages of Dow Corning’s staging system. Because of the tremendous expense of staging a material for commercialization, especially one with EPA regulatory oversight and FDA listing, careful consideration is given at each step. Passing the Dow Corning internal performance, safety and utility screens is often more difficult than dealing with regulatory agencies or with customers. By 1974, Dow Corning was moving aggressively toward full EPA registration and commercialization.
Scientific Validation
Important in this time frame was the publication of several technical papers in both chemical and microbiological technical journals. The significance of these publications is that noted scientists in these respected disciplines reviewed the work, recognized the merit of this new and unique discovery, and allowed such publications to be printed as scientific fact.
Scientific publication with “peer review” is the beginning of a checks and balance system that the scientific community uses to sort our verifiable discoveries from casual observances. Subsequent to these original publications, additional peer-reviewed papers and chapters to books have been scientifically “peer reviewed” and published.
The quality of the data and the uniqueness of the discovery was such that Dow Corning was granted Industrial Research magazine’s prestigious IR-100 Award; submissions for this award are scrutinized by scientific review boards.
Commercialization and Real World Experience
Commercialization of Dow Corning antimicrobial technology began in 1976 after receiving EPA registration under what are called “modern” standards of review. Years of research by Burlington Industries, outside laboratories, and Dow Corning verified the safety and utility of using this technology on direct human contact goods, such as socks. Burlington’s Bioguard® socks revolutionized the marketing of that product.
Parallel to this project, American Hospital Supply Corporation (now part of Baxter International) was reviewing the use of antimicrobials on surgical drapes and other medical non-woven products. The stringent rules governing the use of any particulates or chemicals that could enter the body via a wound or in a surgical procedure made this review protocol very severe.
Every available antimicrobial, medical and industrial, was screened for basic toxicity, effectiveness against the types of microorganisms encountered in surgery, and compatibility with the variety of physical, chemical, and biological contaminants found on fabrics and in wounds. Most importantly, the agents were studied for durability against leaching. The consequences of contamination from migration of a biocide into a wound area are profound. Formation of granules, granulosis, fibrin clots, and coagulation along with migration into the blood stream, could cause clogging of critical blood vessels resulting in death. This eliminated every antimicrobial, except for the durable antimicrobial technology powering the TriBan System.
American Hospital, outside university laboratories, private laboratories, and Dow Corning contributed over thirty studies verifying the safety and performance of the technology in medical use. FDA listings were obtained and these nonwovens were introduced to the market in 1979 and are still being manufactured today.
“Can all of these big, high tech companies be wrong?”….to the contrary, their work is fully supportive of the value and safety of this technology.