Kazakh scientists develop innovative method for medical waste disposal

Kazakh scientists have developed an innovative method for the disposal of medical waste. The unique installation allows for thermal disinfection of biomaterial, so now it is no longer necessary to sort medical waste. Any substance that gets into a plasma-chemical reactor heated to 2,000 degrees dissolves in the blink of an eye and prevents toxic components from decomposing. It’s worth noting there are no similar installations in the world yet.

“Our technology is different because we have high temperatures, we do not burn waste in the reactor, we gasify it. As a result, we get environmentally friendly gas, synthesis gas and environmentally neutral slag. These are the main differences from traditional technologies,” Aleksandr Ustimenko, project author said.

At present, medical waste in the country is incinerated at a temperature that is two times lower. The scientist believes that it does not allow to completely destroy the harmful components. Highly toxic contaminated medical waste is known to be hazardous to both human health and the environment. Therefore, there is a growing preference for more efficient clearance techniques.

“Autoclaving is an alternative method. This is water-vapour pressurized waste treatment, which medical organizations mostly do themselves. As a result, harmful microorganisms contained in medical waste are destroyed through atmospheric pressure,” added Akmaral Meirmanova, Deputy Head of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Control Department .

Medical waste can also be disposed of by loading it into chemical solutions or by short wave. Experts do not exclude that the new plasma treatment method, which was developed by domestic scientists, will soon be included in this list.

 

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova