Abstract:
A bio-hazardous waste processor and optional encasement is described that uses a coolant such as liquid nitrogen to make the waste brittle in the hopper before crushing, keep the waste brittle in the down chute after crushing and also during shredding in the demolition chamber. After shredding, a fog of sterilant is used to disinfect the waste. The apparatus comprises an input hopper with a crushing wheel and dead plate towards its base to reduce the size of large particles, and a down chute which leads the crushed waste from the crushing wheel to a demolition chamber. In the demolition chamber, shredding is implemented by: one or more hammers and one or more commercially available off-the-shelf saw blades, the hammer(s) and saw blade(s) rotating in the same or opposite directions; or, one or more commercially available off-the-shelf dado saw blades, adjacent dados rotating in opposite directions. A sifter plate, with numerous apertures, allows shredded waste smaller than a selected size to fall from the demolition chamber to a fogging chamber where atomizers provide a fog of sterilant for decontamination. The decontaminated shredded waste is collected in a bag. An optional movable airtight encasement has an air intake and air filter to reduce the differential between the exterior and interior air pressure caused by pressure from the coolant and sterilant and also to provide an extra measure of safety that may be required in some installations.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to apparatus for decontamination and disposal of bio-hazardous waste. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Many areas in the United States and abroad are facing the problem of safe handling and disposal of medical waste. The situation is aggravated as the number of generating sites multiply. Any contact with bodily fluids generates medical waste, so hospitals, nursing home facilities, home health care services, dental offices, dialysis centers, funeral homes, and many more locations become generators. Problems of disposal are increased by the cost of safe handling which encourages illegal dumping and fouling of beaches with medical waste. There is also an exposure problem in transporting infectious medical waste to incineration sites. The materials requiring safe disposal range from soft bandages and rubber gloves, to paper, textiles, glass, plastics and steel needles. 
     This bio-hazardous waste has a range of hardness and includes bandages, plastic devices, adhesive tapes, hypodermic syringes or needles, intravenous (IV) needles, surgical gloves, and bottles. This contaminated medical waste is bulky and many truckloads are required when carting this material from large generators or pickup points. While in transport the material remains bio-hazardous. There is a serious liability exposure if a bag accidently falls off the truck while in transit to secondary processing such as incineration. Government agencies are dissatisfied with the incineration system and it is expensive. 
     Several attempts have been made to solve the medical waste disposal problem by destroying and disinfecting medical waste on site but many of these machines use special blades, cutters, knives or rotors that are expensive to manufacture and maintain and cannot handle both soft gloves and hard glass and steel needles in the same batch. Current machines that use heat for sterilizing cannot handle a wide range of waste in the same batch because some soft items would vaporize, possibly giving off noxious or toxic gasses, before other items would be sterilized. 
     Some related art shows using vapors to maintain sterilization, not to sterilize. Applying disinfectant to waste prior to completely reducing the pieces to their final size does not insure that all of the surface area of the waste is exposed to disinfectant. 
     For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a machine that can handle a variety of bio-hazardous waste in the same processing batch, that is less costly to manufacture and maintain, thus available to more waste generators, and of a scalable design both on volume of waste processed and size of waste items. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention utilizes some commercially available off the shelf components to reduce manufacturing and maintenance costs, accepts a wide range of soft and hard bio-hazardous medical waste and is scalable. All the waste is subjected to cooling to make even the soft waste materials such as surgical gloves brittle enough for shredding. The waste is crushed to make it suitable for shredding, Further cooling is provided after the waste has been crushed but before it is shredded. This brittle crushed waste is kept brittle by continued cooling in an enclosed demolition chamber and then shredded by inexpensive, commercially available off-the-shelf, replaceable saw blades. The saw blades can be interspaced with hammers, the hammers rotating in the same or in the opposite direction from that of the saw blades. Dado saw blades wherein adjacent blades rotate in opposite directions can be used. The shredded waste then falls into a fogging chamber where the fine pieces are disinfected so that surfaces such as formerly inside-out contaminated gloves will be sterilized, not just the uncontaminated former inside of such a glove. The present invention can utilize a variety of sterilants for disinfecting. As better liquid or gaseous disinfectants emerge, the system can easily utilize them. The shredded decontaminated waste continues into a biodegradable storage bag which can be easily removed from the machine. The present invention includes an optional air tight encasement with an air intake and a filter. This air intake and filter is used to replace air in the airtight encasement, maintains a closer balance to the differential between the internal pressure and the atmospheric pressure and also provides an extra measure of safety that may be required in some installations. 
     These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the bio-hazardous waste processor. 
     FIG. 2A is a view of the input hopper and crushing wheel of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 2B is a view of the crushing wheel of FIG.  2 A. 
     FIG. 3A is a view of the down chute, demolition chamber, saw blades, hammers and the sifter plate of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3B shows the demolition chamber and blade motor of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3C is a perspective view from the right of the fogging chamber, sifter plate and atomizers of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3D is a perspective view from the left of the fogging chamber, sifter plate and atomizers of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 4 is a view of a saw blade assembly mounted on a shaft of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 5 is a view of a hammer/sleeve assembly mounted on a shaft of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 6 is a cutaway view of another embodiment of the machine showing the demolition chamber with alternating saw blade assembly and counter rotating hammer/sleeve assembly with one safety shield removed of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 7 is a view of the demolition chamber with safety shield mounted of the embodiment referred to in FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 8 is a view of another embodiment of the invention showing dado saw blades on a counter-rotating segmented shaft arrangement using a reversing transmission of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 8A is a view of the bushing inside the sleeve and around the shaft of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 8B is a view of the rotatable sleeve assembly, with collars, mounted on a shaft of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 9 is a view of the biodegradable bag in the container that is resting on the roller/platform assembly of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the top, front and right of the encasement. 
     FIG. 10A is a view of the back of the encasement of FIG.  10 . 
     FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the top, front and left of the encasement of FIG.  10 . 
     FIG. 12 is a view of the control panel of the machine of FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A device for rendering bio hazardous waste harmless by brittilizing, shredding and disinfecting, constructed according to the principles of the present invention, has an interior bio-hazardous waste processor portion  100 , indicated in FIG. 1, and an optional airtight encasement portion  200  as indicated in FIGS. 10,  10 A and  11 . 
     Referring to FIG. 1, frame  11  in the preferred embodiment is similar in shape to a rectangularly shaped, open-topped table with four legs and can be made of metal, plastic or similarly rigid material and in the preferred embodiment is made of metal. One long side of the rectangle is arbitrarily selected to be the front. The bio-hazardous waste processor  100 , is built on frame  11 . Movability is provided in the preferred embodiment by swivel casters  12  which are attached to the base of the legs of the frame  11 . Lower mounting plate  13  fits inside frame  11  and must be strong enough to hold the various components and waste that bear down upon it. Lower mounting plate  13  is positioned above the swivel casters  12 . Upper mounting plate  14  must be strong enough to hold the various components that bear down upon it and is mounted on the upper right-hand rear corner of frame  11 . 
     Referring to FIG. 12, control box  90  comprises equipment to control the operation of the bio-hazardous waste processor  100  and, in the preferred embodiment also the encasement  200 , to receive and process the various status signals and interlocks, and to provide a visual status and interlock display and audible warning signal. Power on button  99  is mounted on the face of control panel  90 . Power on indicator lamp  98  is mounted above power on button  99  on control panel  90 . Power off button  89  is mounted below power on button  99  on control panel  90 . Seven status lamps,  91 - 97 , are mounted on the face of control box  90 . Referring to FIG. 1, control box  90  is mounted on the upper right hand front corner of frame  11 , across from upper mounting plate  14 . 
     Referring to FIG. 2A, hopper  21  receives the bio-hazardous waste to be processed. Hinge  27  attaches hopper  21  to hopper cover  22 , which, when closed, closes safety electrical interlock relay  20 , sending a hopper closed status signal to control box  90 . 
     One skilled in the art can use many ways of making bio-hazardous waste brittle by lowering its temperature, but in the preferred embodiment, a cooling liquified gas is used. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2A, resting on lower mounting plate  13  is cooling agent canister  81 . Liquid nitrogen is selected because of its availability but one skilled in the art can substitute other cooling agents to make the waste brittle. The coolant supply delivery system takes the coolant from its supply and delivers it to where it is needed. Liquid nitrogen flows through insulated metal tubing  82 , regulated by coolant pressure control  83  and detected by pressure relay  84 , through at least one orifice  77  via at least one port  85  into hopper  21 . If sufficient coolant pressure is detected, pressure relay  84  sends a sufficient coolant pressure signal to control panel  90 . 
     Referring to FIG. 2A, mounted inside hopper  21  is dead plate  28 . Also mounted on hopper  21 , supported by motor mount  23 , is motor  24  of approximately ½ HP. Shaft  25  is connected to, and rotated in a clockwise direction by, motor  24 . Crushing wheel  26  is composed of a hard material such as steel, sufficiently hard to withstand use on glass and steel syringes and is sufficiently wide to allow its outer edges to approach the sides of the hopper to within approximately {fraction (1/16)} inch at its closest point. The diameter of crushing wheel  26  in the preferred embodiment is approximately 6″ in diameter. Referring to FIG. 2B, crushing wheel  26  has longitudinal grooves that have a depth d. The depth d in the preferred embodiment is 2 inches but is variable depending on the material to be crushed. For large objects such as bottles, crushing wheel  26  is approximately 8 inches in diameter and depth d would be about 3 inches. If only thin material such as syringes and gloves are processed depth d can be as shallow as ¼ inch. The longitudinal grooves have an arc width w of approximately 1 inch at the outer circumference. Referring to FIG. 2A, crushing wheel  26  is mounted on shaft  25 . The distance between crushing wheel  26  and dead plate  28  varies with the material to be crushed and in the preferred embodiment is approximately 2 inches. Crushing wheel  26 , in conjunction with dead plate  28 , crushes large objects such as bottles, and crushing wheel  26  then moves the crushed material past dead plate  28 . Down chute  29  is attached to the base of hopper  21  and receives the crushed waste. Pressure regulated liquid nitrogen also flows through at least one insulated metal tubing  82 , through at least one orifice  78  via at least one port  86  into down chute  29  to keep the waste brittle. 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3A, demolition chamber  41  is attached to the bottom of down chute  29 . Referring to FIG. 3B, motor mount  46  attaches motor  43 , approximately ½ HP, to the exterior of the demolition chamber  41 . Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3A, waste falling through the down chute  29  enters the demolition chamber  41 . Pressure regulated liquid nitrogen also flows through insulated metal tubing  82 , through orifice  79  via port  87  into demolition chamber  41  to keep the waste brittle. Referring to FIG. 4, shaft  44  has a flattened recessed surface  42  along its long axis sufficiently wide to allow a set screw to be used. Referring to FIG. 3B, shaft  44  is rotated by motor  43  at a high enough speed so that waste is shredded, not pushed around, but not above the design specifications of a saw blade. In the preferred embodiment, shaft  44  is rotated at approximately 1700 RPM. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, saw blade  45  is selected from commercially available off-the-shelf saw blades which typically range from 5½ inches to 12 inches in diameter. In the preferred embodiment, saw blade  45  is a 7¼ inch diameter commercially available off-the-shelf carbide, diamond or similarly hardened tipped saw blade. If saw blade  45  is 10 inch or larger, then motor  43  should be approximately ¾ HP. Blade collar  48  has locking set screw  49  to secure it to a shaft and is selected to provide a snug fit over shaft  44 . Still referring to FIG. 4, the shredding saw blade assembly  40  is comprised of saw blade  45  with two collars  48  welded to it, one on each side, concentric to saw blades  45 , with locking set screws  49  in line on a plane through the center of the saw blade  45  and collars  48 . 
     Referring to FIG. 5, sleeve  31  is selected to fit snugly on shaft  44 . Sleeve  31  has two locking setscrews  32  in line along the long axis of sleeve  31  to secure it to a shaft. Hammer  33  is made of a strong material such as steel. Hammer/sleeve assembly  30  is comprised of hammer  33  attached to sleeve  31  which has two locking setscrews  32 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 3A,  4  and  5 , a plurality of shredding saw blade assemblies  40  are mounted on shaft  44  and held in place by locking set screws  49  being tightened against flattened recessed surface  42  of shaft  44 . The shredder implements in this embodiment are at least one saw blade assembly  40  and one hammer/sleeve assembly  30 . In the preferred embodiment, four saw blade assemblies  40  are used and between two adjacent shredding saw blade assemblies  40  is a hammer/sleeve assembly  30  mounted on shaft  44  and held in place by locking set screws  32  being tightened against flattened recessed surface  42  of shaft  44 . If a plurality of hammer/sleeve assemblies  30  is used, it is possible to stagger their effect by changing the relationship of the attachment of hammer  33  to the location of the setscrews  32  of sleeve  31 . The degree of lead or lag between hammers  33  is dependent upon the number of hammers included and ranges from approximately 30 degrees to a full 180 degrees. Referring to FIG. 3A, the preferred embodiment shows four shredding saw blade assemblies  40  separated by three hammer/sleeve assemblies  30  wherein the center hammer  33  lags the two outside hammers  33  by approximately 90 degrees. 
     As an alternative, the shredding saw blade can rotate in the direction opposite that of the hammer. Referring to FIG. 6, one safety shield has been removed to show the relationship between sprockets. In this embodiment, transmission  401  is able to rotate two shafts in different rotational directions from a single power source. Transmission  401  is mounted in the interior of demolition chamber  41  by upper mounting bracket  402  and lower mounting bracket  403 . Motor  43  is approximately ¾ HP and powers transmission  401  via shaft  404 . Shaft  44  is mounted inside demolition chamber  41  and rotated by transmission  401 . Transmission  401  rotates shaft  44  at a high enough speed so that waste is shredded, not pushed around, but not above the design specifications of the blade. In this embodiment, shaft  44  is rotated at approximately 1700 RPM. Shaft  410  is mounted inside demolition chamber  41  parallel to and spaced sufficiently apart from shaft  44  so that the shredding saw blade assembly  40  and the hammer assembly  30  have sufficient clearance. In this embodiment, shaft  410  is mounted above shaft  44 . In this embodiment, transmission  401  rotates shaft  410  at approximately twice the speed of shaft  44 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, rotatable sleeve  431  has a hollow sufficiently oversized to allow a bushing or bearing to be placed between shaft  44  and rotatable sleeve  431  to allow rotatable sleeve  431  to rotate independently of shaft  44 . Rotatable sleeve  431  has a hammer arm  433 . Hammer arm  433  is drilled and tapped to receive screws  434 . Hammer  432  has slot  435  to receive hammer arm  433  and is drilled to allow screws  434  to pass through. Hammer arm  433  is fixed in slot  435  of hammer  432  and secured with two screws  434 . Rotatable sleeve  431  also has sprocket  436  fixedly attached such that sprocket  436  can be utilized for driving the rotatable sleeve  431 . 
     Referring to FIG. 8A, bushing  437  in the this embodiment is made of Teflon and is a hollow cylinder with a flange  438  on one end. The diameter of the hollow is such that the bushing  437  fits over main shaft  44  with a minimum of clearance as determined by one skilled in the art. Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, the length of bushing  437  is less than ½ the length of rotatable sleeve  431  such that one bushing  437  can be placed inside each end of rotatable sleeve  431 . In this embodiment the length of bushing  437  is approximately ¾ inch long. Referring to FIG. 8A, flange  438  has a height H which is sufficiently high to provide a surface for a collar to ride against while keeping rotatable sleeve  431  in place and in this embodiment is approximately ¼ inch high. Flange  438  has a thickness T that is thick enough to allow for infrequent replacement due to wear and in this embodiment is approximately ¼ inch thick. 
     Referring to FIG. 8B, collar  423  is designed to eliminate lateral movement of rotatable sleeve  431  when it is used on shaft  44 , to retain bushing  437  in its position in rotatable sleeve  431  and is selected to fit snugly on shaft  44 . Collar  423  has locking setscrew  424  so that it can be secured to a flattened surface of a shaft. 
     Referring to FIG. 8B, rotatable sleeve assembly  430  is comprised of rotatable sleeve  431  that has sprocket  436  and hammer arm  433 , hammer  432  that has slot  435 , two screws  434  and with two bushings  437 , all assembled according to this teaching. 
     Referring to FIG. 6, one safety shield has been removed to show the relationship of the sprockets. Upper shaft  410  has sprocket  416  paired with and affixed to be in line with a sprocket  436  of rotatable sleeve  431  that is mounted on shaft  44 . Drive chain  414  lies over sprockets  416  and  436  causing rotatable sleeve assembly  430  to rotate in a direction opposite to that of main shaft  44  and shredding saw blade assembly  40 . Sprocket  416  is approximately the same diameter as sprocket  436  so that rotatable sleeve assembly  430  rotates at approximately the same speed as upper shaft  410 . If a plurality of rotatable sleeve assemblies  430  are used, lead or lag of the individual hammer  432  can be adjusted by placing the individual rotatable sleeve assembly  430  in a lead or lag position relative to other rotatable sleeve assemblies  430  and securing this relationship by attaching drive chain  414 . Referring to FIG. 7, safety shield  413  is attached in the interior of demolition chamber  41  by upper mounting bracket  411  and lower mounting bracket  412  and encases drive chain  414  and sprockets  416  and  436  to minimize the amount of debris that could interfere with the operation of sprockets  416  and  436  and drive chain  414 . Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, care must be taken so that safety shield  413  does not interfere with the operation of the saw blade  45  and the hammer  432 . 
     Referring to FIG. 6, the shredder implements are at least one rotatable sleeve assembly  430 , secured in place by two collars  423 , and one shredding saw blade assembly  40 . 
     In this embodiment a plurality of shredding saw assembly  40  and at least one rotating sleeve assembly  430  can be employed by alternating rotating sleeve assembly  430  secured by pairs of collars  423  with shredding saw blade assembly  40 . 
     Referring to FIG. 8, dado saw blades rotating in opposite directions are another expression of this invention. In this embodiment, at least one commercially available off-the-shelf dado saw blade is the shredder implement. 
     Dado saw blade  445  is selected from commercially available off-the-shelf dado saw blades which typically range from 5½ inches to 12 inches in diameter. In this embodiment, the saw blade  445  is a 7¼ inch diameter commercially available off-the-shelf carbide, diamond or similarly hardened tipped dado saw blade. 
     Shaft segment  441  has a flattened recessed area  442  along its long axis sufficient to allow a setscrew to be used against it. Reversing transmission  443  is designed to accept a shaft segment  441  on one side and reverse the direction of the rotation to another shaft segment  441  connected to the other side of reversing transmission  443 . Reversing transmission  443  is sealed to protect its mechanism from debris. 
     Segmented shaft  444  contains a plurality of shaft segments  441  coupled by reversing transmissions  443  such that each shaft segment  441  rotates in the direction opposite to adjacent shaft segments  441  of segmented shaft  444 . 
     Segmented shaft  444  is mounted inside demolition chamber  41  and is rotated by motor  43 . If saw blade  445  is 10 inch or larger, then motor  43  should be approximately 1 HP. Rotation speed must be sufficient to allow the waste to be shredded, not just pushed around, but not exceed the design specifications of the blade, and in this embodiment is approximately 1700 RPM. 
     Blade collar  446  is selected to provide a snug fit over shaft segment  441  and has locking set screw  447 . Shredding dado saw blade assembly  440  is comprised of a dado saw blade  445  with two collars  446  welded to it, one on each side, concentric to dado saw blades  445 , with locking set screws  447  in line on a plane through the center of the saw blade  445  and collars  446 , attached and held in place on shaft segment  441  by locking set screws  447  being tightened against flattened recessed surface  442 . 
     Adjacent dado blades  445  are adjusted so that there is about ¼ inch between the blades at their closest approach to each other at the bottom and such that the maximum number of blades have their closest approach near the bottom. 
     If only one dado saw blade assembly  440  is used, shaft  441  is directly attached to motor  43  and there is no need for reversing transmission  443 . 
     Referring to FIG. 3A, sifter plate  47  is attached to the bottom of demolition chamber  41  and, referring to FIGS. 3C and 3D, also forms the top of fogging chamber  51 . Referring to FIGS. 3C,  6 ,  7  and  8 , the top of sifter plate  47  contains numerous ¼ inch apertures. The sifter plate is positioned to have approximately {fraction (1/16)} inch clearance at the point of closest approach between it and saw blades  45  or  445  and, if used, the hammers  33  or  432 . The hammers  33  or  432  keep the larger waste particles airborne where they are subject to contacting the saw blades  45  and where the waste is shreded between the saw blades  45  and the sifter plate  47 . Waste that has been crushed and shredded falls into the bottom of the demolition chamber  41  where particles come in contact with sifter plate  47 . Particles too large to pass through the sifter plate  47  are trajected back into the cutting edges of the saw blades  45  or  445  and, if used, by the hammers  33  or  432 . Referring to FIG. 1, fogging chamber  51  is attached to the bottom of demolition chamber  41  and is also mounted to frame  11  by means of a bracket  50 . Referring to FIGS. 3C and 3D, particles smaller than the aperture size of the sifter plate pass through the sifter plate  47  into the fogging chamber  51  to be decontaminated. 
     Referring to FIGS. 1,  3 C and  3 D, atomizers  58  and  59  are opposedly mounted on the outside of fogging chamber  51 . Referring to FIG. 1, air compressor  52  is mounted on upper mounting plate  14  and can be any one of a variety of commercially available air compressors that provides sufficient air volume and pressure, to be based on the concentration and volume of the selected sterilant. In the preferred embodiment, air compressor  52  supplies approximately 6 CFM at 40 psi. Air is taken into the air compressor  52  through the air intake  53 . The compressed air is fed through compressed air tube  54 , through pressure reading relay  56  and arriving at atomizer  58  and also through compressed air tube  55 , through pressure reading relay  57 , and, referring to FIG. 3D, arriving at atomizer  59 . When pressure reading relays  56  and  57  detect sufficient air pressure, they send a sufficient air pressure status signal to control box  90 . 
     Referring to FIG. 1, resting on the lower mounting plate  13  is liquid sterilant reservoir  61  which stores approximately five gallons of liquid sterilant. Metering pump  62  draws liquid sterilant from reservoir  61  through sterilant tubing  60 . Metering pump  62  then pumps sterilant through sterilant tube  64 , through flow meter device  66  to the atomizer  58  and also through sterilant tube  63 , through flow meter device  65 , and referring to FIG. 3D, to the atomizer  59 . While sterilant is flowing through flow meter devices  65  and  66 , a sterilant present status signal is sent to control box  90 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 3C and 3D, fogging ports  68  and  69  are openings on opposite sides of fogging chamber  51 , on the same sides, respectively, as the atomizers  58  and  59 . Atomizers  58  and  59  combine the compressed air and liquid sterilant and discharge the atomized sterilant into the fogging chamber  51  through fogging ports  68  and  69 , creating an environment of concentrated sterilizer fog in fogging chamber  51 . Waste that has fallen through the sifter plate  47  into the fogging chamber  51  is guaranteed to be exposed to the sterilant as the waste continues its fall. 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 9, roller/platform  71  is attached to lower mounting plate  13 . Container  72 , of approximately five gallon capacity, rests on roller/platform  71 . Biodegradable plastic bag  73  lines container  72 . Waste that has fallen through the fogging chamber  51  continues its fall into the biodegradable plastic bag  73  that lines container  72 . The weight of the filling bag inside the container is measured by load cells  74 . When the load cells  74  sense a predetermined weight, the load cells  74  send a filled bag status signal to control box  90 . As an alternative, one skilled in the art could substitute for the load cells  74  an electronic depth gauge to monitor the height of the sterilized waste in the container  72 . In that case, when the container  72  is filled to a predetermined height, the depth gauge would send the filled bag status signal to the control box  90 . 
     Referring to FIG. 1, lever  75  releases roller/platform  71  so that container  72 , still containing filled biodegradable plastic bag  73 , can slide beyond frame  11  while still resting on the roller/platform  71 . The biodegradable bag  73 , containing shredded, decontaminated waste, can now be sealed and transported to any land fill. 
     Referring to FIGS. 10,  10 A and  11  of the preferred embodiment, surrounding and completely encasing the bio-hazardous waste processor  100  is encasement  200 . The encasement  200  can be made in a variety of materials and a variety of structures but the encasement  200  of the preferred embodiment has a light metal or plastic frame  211 . Frame  211  has openings to receive doors and panels. Referring to FIG. 10A, while the back of frame  211  can be either a panel, door or solid, in this embodiment frame  211  has a solid back. 
     Referring to FIG. 11, panel  216  is mounted on the left side of encasement  200 . In the preferred embodiment, frame  211  has, on the left side, one removable bottom member  215 , such that when it and panel  216  are removed, the bio-hazardous waste processor  100  can be removed from the encasement  200 . In the preferred embodiment, the bio-hazardous waste processor  100  can be removed while the encasement remains stationary; alternatively, the bio-hazardous waste processor  100  can remain stationary while encasement  200  is removed. 
     Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, doors  201 ,  202 ,  203 ,  204 , and  205 , and panels  206 ,  207 ,  208 ,  209 ,  210 ,  212 ,  216 , and  217 , preferably made of light metal or plastic, are to facilitate the operation and maintenance of the machine. 
     Referring to FIGS. 1,  10  and  11 , panel  210  fits into the top left opening of frame  211 . Door  201  is hingedly mounted on frame  211  and positioned above the hopper area of apparatus  100  such that hopper cover  22  can be opened to permit bio-hazardous waste to be put into hopper  21 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, panel  212  fits into the top right opening of frame  211 . Panel  206  is mounted to the front upper left opening of frame  211 . Hingedly mounted on panel  206  is door  202 . Panel  207  is mounted to the front upper right opening of frame  211 . Door  203  has a glass panel  222  to enable a machine operator to check the status lights on the control panel. Door  203  is hingedly mounted on panel  206 . Panel  208  is mounted to the front lower left opening of frame  211 . Hingedly mounted on panel  208  is door  204 . Door  204  must be sufficiently large to allow the container  72  and roller/platform  71 , to slide out. Panel  209  is mounted to the front lower right opening of frame  211 . Hingedly mounted on panel  209  is door  205 . Door  205  must be sufficiently large to remove, refill and replace the liquid sterilant reservoir  61  and the liquid nitrogen canister  81  of apparatus  100  in FIG.  1 . Doors  201 - 205  have interlocks  214  that send closed door status signals to control box  90 . 
     Referring to FIG. 11, air intake  225  is mounted on panel  216 . Referring to FIG. 10, panel  217  is mounted to the right side of frame  211 . Attached to side panel  217  is buzzer  250 . If the bio-hazardous waste processor  100  was to be used without enclosure  200 , buzzer  250  would be mounted in a suitable location such as attached to control panel  90 . Air cleaner  223  reduces any pressure build-up due to vaporization of sterilant or evaporation of coolant, and allows this pressure to be reduced to approximately room air pressure; it maintains a closer balance to the differential between the internal pressure and the atmospheric pressure. Air cleaner  223  is selected from one of a number of commercially available air cleaners such as electronic, chemical or specialized filters, depending upon the local requirements of the facility. In the preferred embodiment, air cleaner  223  contains a standard HEPA filter. Air cleaner  223  is mounted on the panel  217 . Air intake  225  provides air so that there will be some movement of air towards air cleaner  223  when the system is operating. Air intake  225  serves to prevent strain on air cleaner  223  and air compressor  52  and to maintain a closer balance to the differential between the internal pressure and the atmospheric pressure. The air cleaner  223  runs a predetermined length of time after the processor has shut down in order to ensure proper cleansing of the internal air, which time, in the preferred embodiment, is 10 minutes. 
     Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, panels  206 ,  207 ,  208 ,  209 ,  210 ,  212 ,  216  and  217  are attached to frame  211  with quick disconnect fasteners  213  and have interlocks  214  that send closed panel status signals to control box  90 . 
     Still referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, movability is provided by wheels and in the preferred embodiment by vertically retractable casters  251  which are attached to the lower portion of each leg of frame  211 . The bottom of the encasement  200  must be sealed to prevent air leakage. Referring to FIGS.,  10 ,  10 A and  11 , the bottom sealer in this embodiment is gasket  255 , made of materials such as rubber and in the preferred embodiment is soft plastic, mounted along the bottom of frame  211 . The vertically retractable casters  251  are raised by turning turn screw vertical threaded shaft nut  252  counter clockwise. Vertically retractable casters  251  must be retractable enough to lower the encasement frame  211  sufficiently to compress gasket  255  into forming an airtight seal around the base of the encasement. 
     Referring to FIG. 12, control box  90  status lamp  91  lights if the hopper closed  10  status signal is not received. Status lamp  92  lights if the sterilant flow status signal is not received. Status lamp  93  lights if the sufficient air pressure status signal is not received. Status lamp  94  lights if the bag filled status signal is received. Status lamp  95  lights unless all door interlocks send a closed door status signal. Status lamp  96  lights unless all panel interlocks send a closed panel status signal. Status lamp  97  lights unless sufficient cooling agent pressure is maintained. 
     Depressing power on button  99  begins the machine startup sequence. The machine startup sequence has a time delay which allows for door  203  to be closed without halting the machine startup sequence. After the power on time delay runs out, the control panel  90  reads the closed door, closed panel and hopper closed status signals. If any of them are missing, the appropriate status lamps,  91 ,  92  and/or  93  are lit, an alarm signal is sent to buzzer  250 , providing an audible alarm, and machine startup is halted until the problem is corrected. At this time the control panel  90  also checks the bag filled status signal. If this status signal is present, the status lamp  94  is lit, an alarm signal is sent to buzzer  250 , providing an audible alarm, and machine startup is halted until the problem is corrected. Next, the machine startup sequence energizes coolant pressure control  83 . If coolant pressure relay  84  fails to detect sufficient pressure, the coolant pressure low signal is sent to control panel  90 , causing an audible alarm and the coolant pressure low lamp  97  to be lit and stopping the sequence until the problem is corrected. Next, the machine startup sequence turns on air compressor  52 , metering pump  62  and air cleaner  223 . After a suitable time delay, the control panel  90  checks the sufficient air pressure and the sterilant flow status signals. If either of them are missing, the appropriate status lamps,  93  and/or  92 , are lit, an alarm signal is sent to buzzer  250 , providing an audible alarm, and machine startup is halted until the problem is corrected. After a delay of about 10 minutes to allow the waste to become brittle from the coolant, the machine startup sequence starts motors  24  and  43 . The status signals are constantly monitored to detect a problem. If a problem is detected, the appropriate status lamp is lit, an alarm signal is sent to buzzer  250 , providing an audible alarm, and machine startup is halted until the problem is corrected. Once the problem is corrected, the power on button  99  can be depressed to begin the machine startup sequence again. 
     Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended calims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.