Treatment Cycle
NEWSTER 10 is designed to treat potentially infectious medical waste at atmospheric pressure and high temperature in humid environment, as shown in the scheme below:
During a 30-minute cycle the system automatically performs the following steps:
1. The waste is loaded into the sterilisation vessel, the lid is locked and the cycle is started by pushing a button.
2. The rotor starts spinning slowly and shredding waste, temperature starts rising.
3. The rotor starts spinning faster, the temperature starts rising sharply and the waste is finely shredded
4. At 96-100°C the temperature stops rising until all the water present in the waste has completely evaporated.
5. After the water has completely evaporated, the temperature starts rising again sharply up to 150° C.
6. Water is introduced into the system to wet the material and cool it down to 95°C .
7. The sterilisation cycle is complete. The material is unloaded into the collection bins by an air-assisted system.
The vapours released during liquid evaporation are treated by a filter block consisting of 1 absolute filter and 4 charcoal filters. Water and condensable gases are discharged in the sewer system as they fully comply with the limit values set by the current legislation.
During the cycle, plastic and waste are turned by the high temperature into small size grey-brown granules.
During the cycle three processes take place simultaneously to guarantee effective sterilisation, namely
• Thermal decomposition of proteins by reaction with water
• Break-up of cell membranes
• Chemical modification of cell components
Rupture of cell membranes
In autoclaves steam does not exert mechanical action on micro-organisms because their inner pressure is almost the same as the steam pressure. Instead, the Newster® system produces mechanical action leading to membrane rupture and, therefore, the death of micro-organisms.
The converter performs several short cycles at high temperature sparkling water into the vessel, which is absorbed by the dehydrated material. The high temperature inside the vessel turns liquid water into steam, which increases the inner pressure within the cells. The increase in pressure produces steam inside the cells which literally explode. This mechanical action causes micro-organisms to die simultaneously and regardless of their number.
Sodium Hypochlorite (Optional)
Newster 10 can also modify cellular components by using sodium hypochlorite at high temperature (4-5 percent active chlorine solution).
High-temperature hypochlorite and carbon dioxide present in the air react and form hypochlorous acid, which in turn releases considerable amount of hypochlorous dioxide, a strong chlorinating and germicidal agent.
The use of sodium hypochlorite is optional as the system sterilization principle is guaranteed by the high temperature (150°C).
