Impact of steam sterilization of infectious medical waste on air quality in a building: A case study in Thailand

In this work, a novel system for managing air pollution produced during steam sterilization is presented. Steam sterilization technique is used to manage infectious medical waste into municipal waste under the Ministerial Regulations on the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. A novel treatment system is implemented with an R-22 vapor compression system (VCHP) with a cooling capacity of 5 TR, an autoclave of ECODAS-T1000, a carbon adsorption capacity exceeding 25 %wt, and a well insulator thickness of 75 mm. According to the energy results, the high performance of the air-to-air VCHP can be achieved at an energy efficiency ratio (EER) of 4.64 kWth/kWe. In terms of the air quality impact, the measurement data are collected under two declarations from the Department of Health, Thailand, in 2022 and the Department of Labor Protection and Welfare, Thailand, in 2017. Almost all the results are in accordance with the Thailand standards, except for four factors, including bacteria, fungi, particulate matter with a size of less than 2.5μm(PM2.5) and particulate matter with a size of less than 10μm(PM10). In the economic results, a high economic value is observed; the payback period is 5.466 y, the internal rate of return is 17.578%, and the levelized cost is 0.186 USD/kgSW.