Patent FR-2941865-A1 (FR)
Title: Treating heat-sensitive and/or thermostable contaminated material, by introducing material in treatment chamber, in situ forming composition from carbon dioxide and sodium hydroxide, and contacting contaminated material with composition
Inventor: TADJOA BOGUEMA JEAN-PIERRE
IPC: A61L2/16
Filed: 2009-02-09
Abstract: The process of treating a heat-sensitive, thermostable and/or complex geometric contaminated material in a synergic manner, comprises introducing the material in a treatment chamber (101), in situ forming a composition from CO 2and NaOH, simultaneously contacting the contaminated material with the composition, cleaning of contaminated equipments and inactivation of infectious contaminants by modulating the caustic composition by subjecting it to successive rounds of decarbonation/carbonation, and simultaneously subjecting the composition to mechanical agitation. The process of treating a heat-sensitive, thermostable and/or complex geometric contaminated material in a synergic manner, comprises introducing the material in a treatment chamber (101), in situ forming a composition from CO 2and NaOH, simultaneously contacting the contaminated material with the composition, cleaning of contaminated equipments and inactivation of infectious contaminants by modulating the caustic composition by subjecting it to successive rounds of decarbonation/carbonation, simultaneously subjecting the composition to mechanical agitation, continuously recirculating the composition containing extracts in the chamber without depressurizing, continuously or selectively separating soluble and insoluble extracts from the composition using a membrane filtration battery installation embedded in a separation chamber (230), reintroducing a desired fraction of renewal composition in the treatment chamber and for treating the material, repeating the above steps for sufficient time to obtain a required level of cleaning and inactivation of infectious contaminants, rinsing and neutralizing the microparticles and nanoparticles of sodium carbonate and bicarbonate and recirculating the carbonated water through carbon dioxide in dense state, producing dry treated material with carbon dioxide in dense state, and removing the treated material from the treatment chamber. The NaOH solution has sufficient concentration and efficiency to soak all external and internal surfaces of contaminated material. The decarbonation allows the NaOH to make the caustic material and corrode the equipment, and carbonation allows to make the material non-caustic and forms microparticles and nanoparticles of sodium carbonate and bicarbonate such as detergents and mild abrasives. The filtration membranes allows for successive or selective microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, for regeneration of the composition in its original state, and continuously inactivating the infectious contaminants. The carbonated water is sterile by reverse osmosis filtration in the separation chamber. When the contaminated material is dirty, a cleaning treatment is performed with simultaneous inactivation of infectious contaminants and self-disinfection of the equipment using saturated water vapor by final drying of carbon dioxide in the supercritical state. When the contaminated material is cleaned, disinfected and unpacked, a treatment corresponding to sterilization of final material is performed. An independent claim is included for a device for treating a heat-sensitive, thermostable and/or complex geometric contaminated material.