Energy saving analysis of medical steam sterilizer

Abstract

Saturated steam is still the dominant mode of medical sterilization due to its effectiveness, safety, rapidity, low- cost and relative simplicity compared to other techniques. However, steam sterilizers (autoclaves) are one of the most energy consuming medical equipment in hospitals. Despite the variety of features and techniques introduced by manufacturers, a holistic and systematic method need to be performed to ensure a broad and accurate energy saving analysis adapted to each case. Based on the developed method by authors; we provide another way of performing energy analysis of a standard steam sterilizer which is simple, yet accurate and holistic. This paper aims to enlighten many energy-saving opportunities poorly investigated hitherto in literature. Regardless of its qualitative character, the study highlighted many instructive points, not the least of which are induction heating external steam generator, heat recovery, sterilization time and sterilizer oversizing losses.