Sterilization Procedure For Gas Sterilization

①The ethylene oxide sterilization procedure must include preheating, prehumidification, vacuuming, introducing gasified ethylene oxide to a predetermined concentration, maintaining the sterilization time, removing the ethylene oxide gas in the sterilizer, and analyzing to remove the ethylene oxide residue in the sterilized items.
②100% pure ethylene oxide or a mixture of ethylene oxide and carbon dioxide can be used for ethylene oxide sterilization. Freon is prohibited.
③Analysis can continue in the ethylene oxide sterilizer or in a special fume hood. Natural ventilation should not be used. Repeatedly input air should be filtered with high efficiency, and more than 99.6% of particles ≥0.3um can be filtered out.
④Ethylene oxide residues mainly refer to ethylene oxide and its two byproducts ethylene chloroethanol and ethylene glycol ethane left in items and packaging materials after ethylene oxide sterilization; contact with excessive ethylene oxide residues can cause burns and irritation to patients. The amount of ethylene oxide residue is related to the material of the sterilized items, sterilization parameters, packaging materials and packaging size, loading volume, and analysis parameters. At 60°C, the polyvinyl chloride catheter is analyzed for 8 hours; at 50°C, it is analyzed for 12 hours. Some materials can shorten the analysis time, such as metal and glass, which can be used immediately, while some materials require longer analysis time, such as built-in pacemakers. (5) Ethylene oxide emissions: The preferred emission source for hospital ethylene oxide is the atmosphere. Installation requirements: There must be a dedicated exhaust duct system, and the exhaust pipe material must be impermeable to ethylene oxide, such as copper pipes. There must not be any flammable materials or building air inlets such as doors or windows within 7.6m of the exhaust port. If the vertical length of the exhaust pipe exceeds 3m, a water collector must be installed to prevent the exhaust pipe from being sunken or looped to cause water vapor accumulation or ice in winter to block the pipe. The exhaust pipe should be led to the outdoors and reversed downward at the outlet to prevent water vapor from remaining on the pipe wall or causing pipe wall blockage. Professional installation engineers must be invited to install the machine in accordance with the requirements of the ethylene oxide sterilizer manufacturer. If ethylene oxide is discharged into water, the entire discharge system (pipes, sinks, etc.) must be sealed, otherwise a large amount of hot ethylene oxide will overflow from the water and pollute the surrounding working environment.