Did you know that the autoclave, one of the most important piece of equipment in bio-hazardous medical waste management Fort Lauderdale was invented over a hundred years ago (1879) by a French Microbiologist Charles Chamberland, who worked often with Louis Pasteur. Yes, that Louis Pasteur, who invented the Pasteurization process and is credited with a number of breakthroughs in vaccination, germ research and fermentation.
Well, interesting trivia aside, an autoclave is, albeit a little modified, still used in bio-hazardous medical waste management and sterilization of medical instruments (sharps especially) to this day.
Primary Function of an Autoclave and the Liquid of Choice (Water)
The primary function of an autoclave, or steam sterilization machine, as it is also called is pressurizing water (although some types of autoclaves use other liquid solutions) and heat them beyond their boiling point. This causes the liquid to turn into steam and sterilize the contents of the autoclave chamber.
Water is usually the liquid of choice when it comes to autoclaving. In order to use it this way, it has to be heated to a temperature past its regular boiling point. In normal conditions, water cannot be heated above 100 degrees Celsius before it starts to boil, but the temperature of water inside the autoclave often needs to be over 120 degrees Celsius, which is about 250 degrees, when translated to Fahrenheit.
By heating the water beyond the 100 degrees Celsius and its standard boiling point, a sealed container is used. When this is done, the pressure inside the container goes up, while the water heats up and this causes the boiling point of the water to further go up as a result of the energy needed to create the steam.
Removing the Air From the Autoclave Chamber
When operating an autoclave, whether for bio-hazardous medical waste management, of for some other sterilization purpose, the last thing you want is air inside your autoclave chamber. Air, while good for breathing, is not so good when you want to sterilize something, so you need it removed from the chamber. There are different methods of removing the air from an autoclave chamber. The two most commonly used are:
• Removing the air using a vacuum pump
• Removing the air via pressurization and de-pressurization of the central chamber
Autoclaves are most often used in medicine, science, body piercing, tattoo industry, dentistry and bio-hazardous medical waste management.
In medicine or health care industry, an autoclave is needed to sterilize medical instruments, such as sharps, so they can be reused later, free of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens.
Commonly, for medical waste and instruments, an autoclave chamber has to be set up for 30 minutes, with the psi (pressure) of 12 and the temperature of water to 121 degree Celsius. However, some pathogens, such as protein prions associated with CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) are able to withstand this temperature, so they require a longer sterilization cycle and a higher (134 degrees Celsius) temp.
Problems With Autoclaves
Certain plastics can’t be sterilized. An autoclave cannot be used on everything, which often makes its usefulness in bio-hazardous medical waste management Fort Lauderdale somewhat limited.
