Portable Saline and Sterile Water System

In the United States, saline is produced by three major companies, Baxter International, Braun Medical and ICU Medical. In September 2024, the Braun plant, responsible for over 60% of saline production, was flooded during hurricane Helene. This caused the plant to cease production and begin rationing intravenous (IV) fluid supplies. The downstream impact to hospitals has been severe and has forced changes in operating procedures to help endure these shortages. Even after production resumes, a significant delay in restoring the supply chain flow and availability of saline will take additional time. For the US Military, this problem is amplified in at least two ways. First, a large gap or cessation in production and availability of saline during a time when US forces are engaged in high intensity near pear adversarial conflicts would likely hamper lifesaving medical aide in critical casualty situations. Second, even when an ample supply of saline and other IV fluids are readily available, they must be shipped to or near the point of need. Transporting saline on Military aircraft and ships is excessively costly. Additionally, convoys of trucks required to move the saline to its point of use are exposed to improvised explosive device (IED) and other potential risks.The loss of a major production facility, even temporarily, clearly creates a dangerous gap in the continuous supply line of IV fluids. Unfortunately, simply adding additional production capacity at fixed site plants does not mitigate this risk effectively because the cost of implementation and the lack of need for excessive production would not be financially viable. Additionally, the relatively short shelf life of saline would further reduce the positive impact of excess production capacity. The potential impacts of the loss of critical production capacity for saline, sterile water and other IV fluids, the considerable cost and risk of long distance transport, and their relatively short shelf life, are factors that support the premise that portable point-of-use production systems are invaluable for the US Military and their allies. When well integrated for transportability and operational use in standard shipping containers, saline and sterile water production capability can easily be repositioned by existing Military material handling equipment (MHE) such as forklifts, cranes, and the palletized loading system (PLS) currently in use on many Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT).