Patent ID: 8007717

Claim:
A method for decontaminating a region with a vaporized decontaminant, the method comprising the steps of: supplying vaporized decontaminant into the region for obtaining at least a minimum concentration level of the vaporized decontaminant in the region; monitoring the concentration of the vaporized decontaminant in the region; determining the dew point concentration of the vaporized decontaminant in the region; regulating the supply of vaporized decontaminant into the region to maintain the concentration of vaporized decontaminant to at least a predetermined amount below the dew point concentration of the vaporized decontaminant; determining a bioburden reduction for each of one or more time increments of a decontamination process, wherein determining said bioburden reduction for each time increment includes: establishing an initial bioburden within the region; determining a D-value associated with the concentration of vaporized decontaminant within the region, wherein said D-value is a time required for a 1 log reduction in bioburden; and calculating a bioburden within the region in accordance with the initial bioburden, the time increment and the D-value; calculating a total bioburden reduction within the region by summing said bioburden reduction determined for each of said one or more time increments; determining whether a decontamination process is complete by comparing the total bioburden reduction within the region to a target bioburden reduction; and continuing the decontamination process for at least one additional time increment until the total bioburden reduction within the region has achieved the target bioburden reduction.