Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Electrical Incinerator for HMW Disposal
EPA Grant Number: SU836783Title: Electrical Incinerator for HMW Disposal
Investigators: Rollins, Andrew M
Institution: Case Western Reserve University
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Phase: I
Project Period: November 1, 2016 through October 31, 2017 (Extended to October 31, 2018)
Project Amount: $15,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2016) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Chemical Safety
Objective:
The state of HMW disposal in Uganda and other developing nations is direand deserves urgent attention. Some efforts have been made by large aid organizationsto alleviate this issue. However resources are still in short supply and this burdenremains too large to be shouldered by custodial workers at rural health centers. USAIDhas thus identified safe handling, transporting, treatment, and disposal options forhazardous waste as a priority for Uganda’s health care system.
A safe, effective, affordable, and sustainable method for disposing of HWM doesnot currently exist for the HCs tasked with providing many Ugandans with primaryhealth care. Our proposed device directly addresses this need by providing aninnovative approach to address a core component of waste disposal, the safe disposalof needles. With successful implementation, our device will reduce the health risk topatients, custodial workers, medical personnel and surrounding communities whilebeing viable for implementation in HCs of any size.
In our preliminary field research in Luwero, Uganda, sharps segregation in HCswas identified as a significant challenge to the waste disposal workflow. Therefore, afacet of our design solution includes a handheld sharps disposal canister which safelyremoves the hazardous steel portion of syringes and collects them until incineration in aseparate, electrically powered incinerator. Development and field testing of ourproposed method of sharps disposal, will require building upon an interdisciplinary andinternational collaboration, highlighting the educational development aspect of this
project.
CWRU is committed to creation of strong international partnerships asfundamental to its educational mission. A longstanding collaboration between CWRUand MUK has established strong educational ties between our two universities. Therecently established biomedical engineering program at MUK has emerged as animportant new partner in this collaboration. This partnership leverages two of CWRU'sstrongest academic programs: biomedical engineering and medical anthropology. Thispartnership, therefore, recognizes that the most pressing global issues crossdisciplinary and international borders. As such, this partnership, in collaboration withMUK faculty and students, is positioned to succeed in providing students with thenecessary training and tools to address these issues.
Objectives: 1) To reduce the hazardous medical waste (HMW) disposal burden indeveloping regions of Uganda. This will be accomplished by the development of anelectrically powered, safe, low cost and sustainable incineration device and sharpssegregation canister for the disintegration of biohazardous stainless steel needles. Thedevice will be designed and tailored for use in a wide array of health centers (HC).
2) To establish lasting engineering and soc ial science focused educationalconnections, partnerships and dialogue between Case Western Reserve University(CWRU), Makerere University in Kampala Uganda (MUK), the Ugandan Ministry ofHealth (MOH), rural HCs and the local communities in which they are embedded.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
In phase 1, we designed and field-tested an initial prototype of a needle canister thatallows HCWs to insert a used syringe in and remove the needles, leaving it in a sealedcontainer. In addition, we designed a proof-of-concept incinerator to melt needles into asterile metal disk that can be safely and inexpensively disposed of.Needle removal canister: We have modeled and field-tested two prototype needleremoval canisters. The first prototype is a handheld canister. The user inserts theneedle into a funnel-shaped opening and clips off the needle using a device similar to afingernail clipper. The needles remain inside the canister until it is attached to theincinerator and emptied. Based on user feedback, two key features were redesigned.First, the canister must have sufficient capacity to hold all needles used in a day.Second, to eliminate risk of needle-stick, the canister should be operated with one hand.A second prototype was field tested to address the latter concern. It consisted ofa table-mounted canister with a "funnel" to a narrow opening that would hold the needlewhile the user bent it a few times to break it off. Initial feedback indicated that the tablemounting was well received and one-handed operation remained desirable. The methodof fatiguing the needle to break it, however, sometimes took too long.Point-of-use needle incinerator: Our first incinerator prototype employed an arc methodto destroy needles. The device consisted of a needle orientation mechanism, a hightemperature ceramic incineration chamber, and a circuit to generate small scaleelectrical arcs in order to melt the needles. The prototype was powered with an 18Vsealed lead-acid battery array. In bench top testing and verification, the device wasefficacious when processing a small quantity of needles at a time. The byproduct wasnon-sharp, sterilized, and posed no danger to the user. Challenges observed duringtesting included inconsistent orientation of the needles, instability of the arc duringmanual actuation, low throughput, and lack of a simple scheme for slag byproductremoval.Whereas lab testing demonstrated the potential feasibility of arc heating as amechanism for needle destruction, we also considered Joule (resistive) heating. Incontrast to the arc method, resistive heating calls for low voltage and high current.Mathematical modeling and preliminary testing was employed to identify characteristicsthat have to be met for Joule heating to improve upon the arc method. Design conceptswere then formulated and evaluated based on numerical scoring of the following criteria:
ease of use, cost, ease of fabrication, durability, efficacy, safety, capacity, wasteremoval, and scalability. The selected concept was comprised of a high temperaturecylindrical chamber, with a conductive piston-like plunger capable of applying forcebetween the needles and a conducting plate on the bottom of the chamber.Preliminary test results of the resistive heating approach indicated that while resistive heating was capable of superheating the needles to a point very close to theirmelting temperature, as needles began to heat, they quickly became malleable, warped,and lost contact with the anode. As the number of needles tested increased, thecombined resistance of the system decreased and the heating became slower and less
efficient. The test results indicate the potential for improved needle fusion by applicationof substantive pressure on the needles during melting. These results are preliminaryand will require further verification testing.
Currently, our test platform is capable of utilizing both arc and resistive heatingso that we may evaluate and compare the two methods. This device is capable ofvertically aligning hundreds of needles simultaneously, and maintaining physical contactbetween the needles and electrodes during Joule heating, even as the needles melt anddeform.
Conclusions:
The proposed solution was deemed feasible, but further development of both theneedle remover and the incinerator are needed. Phase 2 was not funded so the projectwas not continued.
The CWRU students involved in the project as well as their Makerere Universitycounterparts learned a great deal. The project strengthened the ongoing collaborationbetween CWRU and Makerere.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 6 publications for this projectProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.