Disposal of ethylene oxide, esp. from sterilisers - by using oxidn. prods. to heat air entering fume cupboard, and storing holding vessel before passing through catalyst

摘要

In an existing procedure for disposing of ethylene oxide which is used as sterilising agent in a sterilising unit consisting of a steriliser (1) and a fume cupboard (2), the ethylene oxide is throttled by a valve (6) through a catalyst (7) and is added to the residually contaminated air from the fume cupboard. The ethylene oxide is converted by catalytic oxidn. into carbon dioxide, water and heat, and these products are used for pre-heating (9) the residually contaminated air. The products of oxidn. are also used for heating (11) the clean air (13) entering the fume cupboard, and are cooled below 60 deg C and released into the atmos. (12). The heated clean air may be mixed (14) with cold clean air, and the clean air enters the fume cupboard at 40 deg plus or minus 10 deg. C. The ethylene oxide is drawn into a storage or holding vessel (5) before passing through the catalyst. USE/ADVANTAGE - Used in pharmaceutical, medical and hospital applications. The temp. of the exhaust air is greatly reduced, and the performance of the fume cupboard is improved by preheating the air entering it. The storage or holding vessel (5) improves the throughput of the sterilising unit.