Medical Waste Treatment Technology

Medical Waste Treatment Technology

The treatment technology of medical waste is still in the exploration stage in China, and the preferred method is still not mature enough. The related processing technologies are roughly divided into three categories: First is the high temperature treatment methods, such as incineration, pyrolysis and vaporization. Second is the alternative treatment methods, such as chemical disinfection, high temperature and high pressure steam sterilization, dry heat sterilization, microwave treatment and safe landfill method. Finally, the innovative technologies, such as plasma technology and radiology technology. There are many techniques for treating medical waste. According to the different treatment principles, they can be generally divided into sterilization methods, high temperature incineration, plasma methods, pyrolysis methods and sanitary landfill methods.

 

Sterilization Method

 

There are many sterilization and disinfection methods, such as high temperature and high pressure steam sterilization, chemical disinfection, and microwave disinfection. The sterilization method mainly destroys the living environment of microorganisms and viruses through high temperature, high pressure, chemical reagents, microwaves technology of a certain frequency or wavelength, and reduces the degree of medical waste to human health and environmental hazards. Sterilization and disinfection method requires different sterilization methods for different medical wastes. Besides, there are many limiting factors for sterilization effect due to the variety and large difference of medical waste. So it may not be able to achieve the best sterilization effect. Moreover, the volume and appearance of the garbage will not change obviously. Under normal conditions, it can be used for pre-treatment before incineration. And in some cases, it can also be used as a treatment measure before final landfill disposal.

 

High Temperature Incineration

According to the study, 92% of the total weight of medical wastes are flammable, and the non-combustible component is only 8%. It can be completely burned to ash at a certain temperature and sufficient oxygen. Incineration treatment is a deep oxidation chemical process. Under the action of high temperature flame, the medical wastes in the incineration equipment are converted into residue and gas through three stages of drying, ignition and incineration. The pathogenic microorganisms and harmful substances are in the process of incineration. It is also effectively destroyed by high temperature, and it can effectively reduce volume and weight. The incineration method is applicable to all kinds of infectious medical wastes and is the mainstream technology in the field of medical waste disposal.

 

Pyrolysis Method

The pyrolysis method utilizes the thermal instability of organic matter in the garbage to heat the organic components in the medical waste under high temperature without oxygen. The heat can break the chemical bond of the compound, and the organic matter of large molecular weight is converted into flammability. Let the process of organic matter translate to the flammable gases, liquid fuels and coke. Compared with the incineration method, this treatment technology has a lower temperature, no obvious flame combustion process. The heavy metals and others are kept in the residue, which can be recovered for a large amount of heat energy. So that it solves the biggest problem of the medical waste incineration treatment technology.

 

Plasma Method

The plasma method is an innovative technology for treating medical wastes. The principle of disinfection is to kill all the microorganisms in medical wastes with the high temperature generated by the plasma arc furnace, then destroy the toxic drugs and chemicals which are left in the cells. The metal sharps and inorganic chemicals will be melted and completely destroyed.

 

What should be mentioned is that there always has many classification medical trash bins in the hosipital. So, if we throw the medical wastes into the right simplehuman dual trash can, it will let the cleaning staffs more easy to clean them.