The answer is yes, it is a sustainable process. As incredible as it may sound, like a perpetual motion machine, turning medical waste into energy creates the power to turn it into energy. It is self-sufficient.

The benefits of converting medical waste into energy

Reduce landfills

Medical waste is different from other wastes. All of these are assumed to be infected, and most of them are dangerous. The landfill where we dump it must be specially built to hold contaminated waste. Still, there are inherent pollution problems.

How much of our planet will these landfills occupy in time? Do landfill structures fail as they age? Are pollutants leaking into our groundwater from the ground? If we turn medical waste into energy, we will provide positive answers to these questions.

It produces a lot of energy

A ton of medical waste can generate enough electricity to power a home for a month. Some studies suggest that before COVID-19, we produced 5.9 billion tons of medical waste each year, so our waste could power 5.9 billion homes for a month.

It recycles excess waste

Clinical waste contains a lot of metals. Needles, clips, hooks, etc. are made of steel, aluminum, and other metals that can be removed during the energy generation process and then recycled.

Medical waste incineration gasification treatment and energy generation

Gasification is the process of converting solid or liquid raw materials used as medical waste into gases or liquefied fuels that are burned to release energy.

Medical waste is mainly composed of organic hydrocarbons, which contains more combustible components and has a high calorific value. Incineration is completely feasible.

Incineration treatment is a chemical process of deep oxidation. Under the action of high temperature flame, the medical waste in the incineration equipment is transformed into residue and gas through three stages of drying, ignition and incineration. The source of infection and harmful substances in the medical waste can be effectively destroyed in the incineration process.

The result of this incineration process is a lot of heat, which can be recycled back into the process to sustain itself, or can be used to heat water or generate steam to power a generator. The final residue is a material called charcoal ash, which can be filtered to remove any metal and then recycled back into the process to be burned again or used as fertilizer.

Incineration technology is suitable for all kinds of infectious medical waste, incineration requires a high and stable furnace temperature, good oxygen mixing conditions, enough gas residence time and other conditions, and the final discharge of flue gas and residue need to be harmless disposal.