Description:
OBJECTIVE: The successful applicant will develop an innovative method or system which will render liquid and other fluid medical (biohazard) waste products sterile and otherwise inert to the environment in austere, deployed locations. Currently autoclaving and/or chemical treatment (1:10 bleach solution) or open pit burning methods are used to support our Combat Support Hospitals (CSH), Forward Surgical Teams (FST), dental units, and other deployed medical units and treatment facilities. Management of biological/medical waste in the deployed environment was identified as a key area of need for investigation and improvement by the participants at the TATRC (Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center) sponsored Medical Logistics Integrated Research Team (IRT) conference conducted in May of 2005. DESCRIPTION: DESCRIPTION: We are seeking an innovative method or system which will render liquid and other fluid medical (biohazard) waste products sterile and otherwise inert to the environment in austere, deployed locations. Currently autoclaving and/or chemical treatment (1:10 bleach solution) or open pit burning methods are used to support Combat Support Hospitals (CSH), Forward Surgical Teams (FST), dental units, and other deployed medical units and treatment facilities. Although these methods do mitigate the risk of pathogenic and/or chemical contamination of the environment they only reduce the levels of agents left behind; they cannot assure total inactivation of all pathogens or the neutralization of chemical agents. In fact chemical treatment (bleach) and open pit burning leave behind additional undesirable residues, and open pit burning is likely to produce risk to those personnel engaged in the activity as well as air quality. In addition to traditional contaminants found in waste water new threats are being recognized. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized such threats:"Chemicals are being discovered in water that previously had not been detected or are being detected at levels that may be significantly different than expected. These are often generally referred to as"contaminants of emerging concern"(CECs) because the risk to human health and the environment associated with their presence, frequency of occurrence, or source may not be known. EPA is working to improve its understanding of a number of CECs, particularly pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and perfluorinated compounds among others". Although the disposal of unused pharmaceutical and other materials in the waste stream can be and is regulated there is no acceptable way, known at present, to regulate or treat those agents that get into the waste stream as part of human or animal excretion as unmetabolized drugs. Minimal success of this effort will produce an effluent stream that meets or exceeds the requirements of Section 304(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act, criteria for water quality, and Water Quality Standards: CFR Title 40 Part 131. The desired outcome will render the effluent harmless to the environment by killing or neutralizing all pathogenic organisms and other microbiological agents and by denaturing and making inert chemical contaminants to include pharmaceutical residues. Ideally this effluent will be of sufficient quality that it may be used as feed stock for reuse with minimal additional treatment. PHASE I: Phase I will develop a methodology (technology) and design concept for a system that will render fluid medical/biological waste harmless to the environment as described above. Since no such system exists today the solution will be both innovative and novel. The desired system will be compact and will require a minimum of energy to operate. The system should be easy to move, set-up, operate and maintain by soldiers in an austere environment. Water and energy demands of this system should be minimal. Implicit in the design concept is a testing plan and metrics to assure that the system is capable of destruction of pathogens and other organisms and the denaturing or destruction of pharmaceutical and other potentially harmful compounds in the waste stream, thus rendering any effluent safe to the environment. An ideal solution will most likely provide a system design which is scalable and which provides a continuous flow process and which might also be applicable to gray and/or black water waste stream treatment. This capability will enable the fabrication of units capable of supporting generators of small volumes of waste as well as those that generate large volumes on a nearly continuous basis. This Phase I effort will span six months and will encompass no more than $100K of effort. PHASE II: Phase II will establish performance parameters through experiments and prototype fabrication. This prototype will, as close as possible, meet the requirements stated above for the Phase I design concept. The expectation is that at the conclusion of Phase II the prototype will be ready for commercialization and production in a potential Third Phase. This effort will encompass no more than two years and $1.0M of effort. PHASE III: Significant dual use applications exist for this technology. Dual use applications include utilization within both the civil and military environments. The immediate goal of this solicitation is to serve deployable military medical, dental, veterinary and mortuary and similar facilities. Also, within the military, such a system could be used in a number of areas beyond those enumerated above, including use aboard Navy ships where medical/biological wastes could be treated before discharge overboard. In remote or small medical facilities such a system might be used as the primary means of destruction of bio waste. The ideal solution would also be capable of treating sanitary waste streams, to include both gray and black water where such a scalable system could be use at remote locations, at individual facilities or for small communities. Civilian uses of the technology would parallel those of the military. The system will be of value in small or remote medical facilities, in small clinics or practices, and if scaled up at hospitals or larger facilities. The smaller appliances might be used in hospital and other facilities to pre-treat certain medical/biological wastes, such as operating room waste fluids, before they are discharged into municipal sanitary sewage systems. A large"portable"version of such a system might be constructed that could be used in disaster situations to temporarily replace or supplement waste treatment systems damaged or destroyed by the event. In addition to the military medical enterprise other DoD users/customers may include Force Sustainment and Force Provider activities. Any activity that provides troop support, environmental or hazmat management support is also a potential user. REFERENCES: Dr. Jeremy Thompson and Dr. Honor Anthony, Moderators,"The Health Effects of Waste Incinerators", 4th Report of the British Society for Ecological Medicine, December, 2005 Ira F. Salkin, Ph.D.,"Review of Health Impacts from Microbiological Hazards in Health-Care Wastes", World Health Organization, 2004 Ira F. Salkin, Edward Krisiunas, and Wayne L. Turnberg,"Medical and Infectious Waste Management", Journal of the American Biological Safety Association, 5(2) pp. 54-69 ABSA 2000"Canadian Company Receives Approval in the United States for a New Bio-Hazardous Waste Treatment Technology", Press Release, Ozonator Industries, July 27, 2006"Device Could Do"Battle"With Hospital Infections", ScienceDaily, August 5, 2006
