What is an Autoclave & how does it work?

11 Oct.,2022

 

Industrial Autoclave

While autoclaves can sterilize regulated waste, only certain types of medical waste are ideal for the autoclaving process. Red bag waste, sharps waste, hazardous material, and infectious wastes are all fine for autoclave use. Items such as bloody bandages, used medical sharps and sharps containers or worn masks or gowns are all found in these types of medical waste and autoclaved once disposed of. Some forms of regulated medical waste cannot be autoclaved, and instead require a medical incinerator. Chemotherapy and pathological waste fall into that category.

There are different types of medical waste autoclaves, most however, function by gravity or vacuum-induced sterilization. Gravity and vacuum autoclave methods both use high-temperature steam and pressure to displace air in the cylinder, allowing the sterilization to more efficiently penetrate the waste. Each one of these autoclave methods have their advantages. Gravity autoclaving is prevalent with most laboratory media. This includes glassware, steel tools and biohazardous waste. Gravity autoclaving is the most simple sterilization method. It uses steam pumped into the autoclave chamber to displace ambient air. The upside of gravity autoclaves is that they do not require peripheral devices. For cases where it may be difficult to remove all of the air, vacuum autoclaving is used. Items like large animal cages, red bags, bedding, porous materials, and wrapped packs or surgical kits sometimes use this method.

If purchasing an autoclave, the first steps are making sure your facility is equipped to accommodate a functioning autoclave and all facility permits are current. Next you will want to only consider autoclaves that are specific to your purpose. While there are many autoclaves on the market, we recommend autoclaves by the Mark Costello Company. This company is known worldwide as providing the safest and most economical autoclaves on the market. For more information on autoclaves visit https://www.mark-costello.com/medical-waste/medical-waste-sterilizers/.