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IIT students awarded for medical waste disposal unit
Wednesday, 16 July 2003, 19:30 IST
CHENNAI: A low-cost medical waste disposal unit invented by students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has bagged an international award.
The competition for Innovative Technologies for Treatment of Medical Waste was organised by the NGO Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), which has 350 members from 38 countries.
The two IIT students, Abhishek Jain and Sumon Dutta, devised an integrated medical waste treatment system.
"It is a commercially useful process too as people can earn a living out of recycling the water from the process and recycling the solid waste too," says the students' guide, T. Swaminathan, of the chemical engineering department of IIT Madras.
Disposal of biomedical waste is a huge problem for a city like Chennai. The IIT model costs less than 
50,000 for a 10-bed hospital. The model is under test at the IIT's own mini-hospital here.
"The technology is adaptable and the unit can be put up with locally available technology in 10 days time," the IIT team says.
The system comprises an autoclave, a shredder, a collection and segregation plant and a treatment and disposal unit. The biomedical waste is first separated into metal, glass and other categories.
The system first reduces the volume of the waste and disinfects it in a vessel very much like a household washing machine. The machine has a mixing, grinding facility that helps reduce the biomedical waste to pulp.
Steam is then directed to a pressurised chamber in which the reduced waste is treated. If the waste is metallic, like needles or syringes, a cutter is used to shred the waste. For other types of waste, a two-way rotating blade is used.
After sterilisation, the liquid content is drained into the municipality waste system. The solid waste is dehydrated and disposed as dry solid.
Details of the project can be had from IIT, Madras, or from the medwastecontest.org website.
HCWH is an international coalition of hospitals and healthcare systems, medical professionals, community groups, health-affected constituencies, labour unions, environmental and environmental health organizations and religious groups.
Source: IANS
50,000 for a 10-bed hospital. The model is under test at the IIT's own mini-hospital here.
"The technology is adaptable and the unit can be put up with locally available technology in 10 days time," the IIT team says.
The system comprises an autoclave, a shredder, a collection and segregation plant and a treatment and disposal unit. The biomedical waste is first separated into metal, glass and other categories.
The system first reduces the volume of the waste and disinfects it in a vessel very much like a household washing machine. The machine has a mixing, grinding facility that helps reduce the biomedical waste to pulp.
Steam is then directed to a pressurised chamber in which the reduced waste is treated. If the waste is metallic, like needles or syringes, a cutter is used to shred the waste. For other types of waste, a two-way rotating blade is used.
After sterilisation, the liquid content is drained into the municipality waste system. The solid waste is dehydrated and disposed as dry solid.
Details of the project can be had from IIT, Madras, or from the medwastecontest.org website.
HCWH is an international coalition of hospitals and healthcare systems, medical professionals, community groups, health-affected constituencies, labour unions, environmental and environmental health organizations and religious groups.
Source: IANS