| خلاصه مقاله | Decontamination of infectious waste using methods with minimum health risks and environmental pollution is of great importance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of using ozone in decontamination of infectious waste in hospitals. In this study, Bacillus atrophaeus spore was used as a biological indicator and was placed inside the most central part of the bags containing infectious waste assuming the worst possible conditions for ozone penetration. The ozone generator was equipped with a constant dose of 5 grams per liter, with a discharge of 1 and 3 liters per minute, and a contact time of 10 to 120 minutes and in 3 modes 1) dry conditions, 2) separate infusion with water vapor into the contact tank and 3) injection into a glass column containing water and then transfer of ozone-containing bubbles into the contact tank. Then the ozone exposure indicators were incubated for 24-24 h at 36 ± 1°C and, finally, the absence of colony growth in the culture medium was considered as the success of ozone in disinfection of infectious wastes. In this study, the decontamination process was done with dry and wet ozone with 4 repetitions. The results were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistical tests. The results showed that the highest efficiency of inactivation of Bacillus atrophaeus was achieved by dry gaseous ozonation at 80 min with a rate of one liter per minute. By increasing the ozone dose to 3 liters per minute, the deactivation time decreased, so that complete elimination efficiency was achieved in 15 minutes of contact time. The deactivation efficiency and complete elimination of the desired biological index in the process of wet ozone injection by glass column and wet ozone injection through separate injection of water vapor into the contact tank were obtained in 30 and 50 minutes, respectively. Based on the results of this study, the best conditions for risk-free infectious wastes were obtained in conditions of dry ozone depletion. Therefore, this process can be used as a practical and acceptable method for the risk-free disposal of infectious hospital wastes. |