Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Research Institute for Environmental Innovation (Suzhou) Tsinghua, Suzhou, 215163, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Apr;30(17):51314-51326. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-25793-0. Epub 2023 Feb 21.
Inadequate handling of infectious medical waste may promote the spread of the virus through secondary transmission during the transfer process. Microwave plasma, an ease-of-use, device-compact, and pollution-free technology, enables the on-site disposal of medical waste, thereby preventing secondary transmission. We developed atmospheric-pressure air-based microwave plasma torches with lengths exceeding 30 cm to rapidly treat various medical wastes in situ with nonhazardous exhaust gas. The gas compositions and temperatures throughout the medical waste treatment process were monitored by gas analyzers and thermocouples in real time. The main organic elements in medical waste and their residues were analyzed by an organic elemental analyzer. The results showed that (i) the weight reduction ratio of medical waste achieved a maximum value of 94%; (ii) a water-waste ratio of 30% was beneficial for enhancing the microwave plasma treatment effect for medical wastes; and (iii) substantial treatment effectiveness was achievable under a high feeding temperature (≥ 600 °C) and a high gas flow rate (≥ 40 L/min). Based on these results, we built a miniaturized and distributed pilot prototype for microwave plasma torch-based on-site medical waste treatment. This innovation could fill the gap in the field of small-scale medical waste treatment facilities and alleviate the existing issue of handling medical waste on-site.
医疗废物处理不当可能会在转移过程中通过二次传播促进病毒的传播。微波等离子体是一种使用方便、设备紧凑、无污染的技术，可实现医疗废物的就地处理，从而防止二次传播。我们开发了长度超过 30 厘米的常压空气基微波等离子体火炬，可快速就地处理各种医疗废物，并排出无害废气。通过气体分析仪和热电偶实时监测医疗废物处理过程中的气体成分和温度。通过有机元素分析仪分析医疗废物及其残留物中的主要有机元素。结果表明：（i）医疗废物的减重率达到最大值 94%；（ii）水废物比为 30%有利于提高微波等离子体处理医疗废物的效果；（iii）在较高的进料温度（≥600°C）和较高的气体流量（≥40 L/min）下可实现较高的处理效果。基于这些结果，我们建立了一种基于微波等离子体炬的小型化分布式现场医疗废物处理试验原型。这一创新可以填补小规模医疗废物处理设施领域的空白，并缓解现场处理医疗废物的现有问题。
