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EVALUATION OF THE EFFICIENCY OF AUTOCLAVING HEALTHCARE WASTE USING BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL INDICATORS

  • Cíntia Amélia Soares Matos - School of Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
  • Lisete Lange - School of Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
  • Luiza Silva Betim - State Environmental Foundation, Administrative City, Brazil
  • Alice Libânia Santana Dias - State Environmental Foundation, Administrative City, Brazil

DOI 10.31025/2611-4135/2020.13902

Released under CC BY-NC-ND

Copyright: © 2019 CISA Publisher

Abstract

Autoclaving is among the techniques used to treat health services waste belonging to the most applied group of biohazards and sharps. However, a shortcoming of the autoclaving treatment involves the operational parameters and appropriate frequency for monitoring the process because there is limited scientific evidence for using the optimal parameters. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the autoclaving process, using biological and chemical indicators, at different temperatures and exposure times, in three enterprises that provide services of autoclaving health care waste. To this end, partnerships were signed with three private enterprises and an operational procedure was developed to conduct real-scale tests under three different scenarios, using temperatures of 150, 132, and 125°C at 15-min exposure times and reduced exposure times (4 or 10 min). The results showed that among the three projects, a statistically significant difference between exposure times of 15 min and 4 min healthcare waste under Scenario 2, at a temperature of 132°C, only occurred in one case. However, modification of the exposure time and/or operational temperature requires further studies as well as confirmation from an environmental agency.

Keywords

Editorial History

  • Received: 21 Jun 2019
  • Revised: 15 Oct 2019
  • Accepted: 26 Nov 2019
  • Available online: 10 Feb 2020

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