Hospital waste treatment

PROMECO has developed an innovative system for the treatment of medical waste (described by the EWC codes 18).

This system allows not only to fulfill the legal obligations related to the sterilization of potentially infectious medical waste, but also to obtain from the treated product a material that,  for shape and characteristics, can be used as RDF (refuse derived fuel).

The process consists of several phases.

First, the material is ground. This allows for more effective treatment.
Then the material is agglomerated/densified using a PES - Promeco Extrusion System. Densified allows to send to the next sterilization phase a pre-processed material whose plastic components are in a semi-molten state. This easies sterilization, which takes place in a reactor designed to ensure the process conditions (temperature and residence time) required to meet the specific requirements of the law and government regulations, and in particular the need to overthrow the microbial load, in order to ensure a SAL (Sterility Assurance Level) of not less than 10^-6.

The last process step is an additional agglomeration/densification of the sterilized product, which is processed into pellets or briquettes, or possibly re-granulated.

The PROMECO system for the production of RDF from hospital waste has been designed to meet the needs of operators of the industrial waste disposal sector, so the line has a production capacity of about 1500 kg / h (estimated, as changing according to composition and specificities of input material as well as desired characteristics of the output).

The PROMECO system for the treatment of hospital waste can meet regulatory requirements and keep at a low level both investment and operating costs, adopting sound technical solutions already used in the recycling and recovery of other types of waste.

Promeco has developed a prototype of this system and is looking for a joint venture partner with whom to make the first industrial-scale plant.