Medical waste recycling

    Medical waste is a heterogeneous mixture of wastes containing infective components. Medical waste consists mainly of plastics, textiles, and PVC. Medical waste may include syringe needles, waste material of surgical and pathological-anatomical research, overdue medicines. As a rule, the hospitals burn their medical waste and the rest is sent to the landfills. When PVC burns, carbon monoxide, dioxins and furans come to the atmosphere. In California, construction of new plants for combustion of medical wastes is banned since 2001. Pyrolysis is an effective method of waste recycling with recovering of valuable products and commercial fractions. The yield of the pyrolysis products of the medical waste recycling depends on its specific composition:

    Pyrolysis oil: 65-75% (weight)

    Carbon black: 5-15% (weight)