Development of an Environmentally Safe Process for Medical Waste Disposal Based on Pyrolysis

Abstract

Upon analyzing the methods for processing epidemiologically hazardous medical waste (MW), it has been shown that the problem of safe disposal of MW with respect to the formation of polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins and dibenzofurans (dioxins and furans) is acute and requires scientifically sound solutions. The typical morphological and elemental composition of the MW classes B and C and their thermal properties were determined, and the modern literature on the processes of thermal detoxification of dangerous MW was analyzed. It has been found that the process of pyrolysis is the most adaptive to various types of solid waste. Currently, pyrolysis attracts special attention due to its flexibility in treating various combinations of wastes only by changing the operating parameters of the process, such as temperature and heating rate. Pyrolysis is particularly important in connection with the growing amount of polymers in the waste of medical institutions, including those containing chlorine. In this case, the pyrolysis method presents the possibility of using a number of circuit solutions to prevent the formation of dioxins and furans. It has been shown that the use of the pyrolysis method ensures, along with full satisfaction of the requirements of sanitary and hygienic standards, the environmental safety of the MW detoxification process as compared to other high temperature methods (combustion and gasification). Next, possible directions of utilization of secondary resources received in the process under consideration were analyzed. In the proposed scheme of the installation for safe disposal of medical waste on the basis of the pyrolysis process, its products (excess gas, heat of the products of combustion, etc.) are expected to be used to generate electrical and thermal energy; semicoke as a solid residue of the process will be converted to activated carbon.