Vacuum and Gravity autoclaves were once thought to do a good job of treating medical waste. Recently in California, however, it was discovered that bulk liquids, like those contained in suction canisters, were not being treated properly during the historic time, temperature and pressure cycles.
Healthcare facilities generating bulk liquids package the suction canisters in red bags which are piled into a stainless steel autoclave cart. Piling red bags in this manner insulates the potentially infectious liquids from the steam applied during treatment in autoclaves and prevents the liquids from reaching boiling point during conventional “cook” times.
It is believed that conventional gravity and vacuum autoclaves may maintain efficacy while treating bulk liquids in large-scale autoclaves, providing that cycle times are elongated (by as much as four times longer). This permits enough time for the steam heat to penetrate the insulating layers of bags and to conduct the heat through the bulk liquids.
PROBLEM: Elongated cycle times will derate throughput of autoclaves that are intended to treat bulk liquids by a factor of up to 4 times to maintain efficacy.