SHELF LIFE IMPROVEMENT FOR ETHYLENE OXIDE STERILANT MIXES

摘要

A method of increasing the shelf life of a sterilant mixture of ethylene oxide and one or more halocarbons when the mixture is in contact with iron oxide on the surface of a storage vessel. Sufficient carbon dioxide is added to the mixture to reduce the reactivity of the iron oxide for converting ethylene oxide to reaction products of ethylene oxide. In an alternate embodiment, a hollow carbon steel vessel which holds a mixture of ethylene oxide and a halocarbon as a sterilizing gas has its inside surface passivated by forming a reaction product of iron oxide and carbon dioxide.