Patent ID: 8133448

Claim:
An assembly for sterilizing of a plurality of microbiologically contaminated objects, using in situ generated heat and humidity, the assembly comprising: a unit comprising a closable, portable, hand carried carry case weighing up to about 35 pounds and having an inner chamber for accepting microbiologically contaminated objects; an interior vessel disposed in the inner chamber for serving as a reaction chamber, said vessel for receiving and combining dry chemical precursors with water, within the case, said vessel being adapted for rinsing and cleaning, independently from the case, for reusing the vessel on other contaminated objects; a combination of dry chemical precursors which upon combining with water generates in situ at least minimally sufficient conditions of heat and humidity to effect microbiological sterilization of the objects, said combination of dry chemicals excluding acids and consisting of iron-activated-magnesium Mg(Fe), chlorite ion ClO 2 − as an oxidant, sulfite ion SO 3 2− as a reductant, and sodium hydrogen ascorbate ion AH − as an effector, said sodium hydrogen ascorbate being in an amount less than a stoichiometric amount, and said combination of dry chemical precursors being combined with water causing a reaction by electron transfer, and not acidification, during sterilization, at near neutral pH, for producing chlorine dioxide, heat and humidity and chlorine dioxide in amounts sufficient to effect said sterilization, under which reaction by electron transfer the ascorbate initiates a reduction of chlorite by a transfer of an electron from chlorite to ascorbate for causing a release of heat, a decrease in solution pH, and a release of chlorine dioxide in heated gaseous and aqueous forms, said reaction between ascorbate and chlorite inducing chemical reaction between chlorite and sulfite for producing heat and increasing solution pH for generating heated chlorine dioxide at near neutral pH for affecting said objects to expose any contaminating microorganisms to said chlorine dioxide and sterilizing said objects; a pressure release outlet valve mounted on said unit for automatically controlling pressures at ambient during sterilization; wherein the assembly, including the unit, vessel, combination of dry chemical precursors with water, and outlet valve is self-contained, reusable and is free of any external source of power for controllably generating sufficient amounts of heat and humidity to sterilize the contaminated objects.