The treatment of antibiotics in medical waste has always been a headache. There are no reasons for this, there are many kinds of antibiotics, and the current methods are difficult to remove.

Recently, Wu Zhengyan, a researcher at the Institute of Technology and Biotechnology, Hefei Institute of Material Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, found that high-energy electron beam irradiation technology can degrade antibiotic residues in medical waste quickly, conveniently and at low cost. The relevant results were reported by Scientific Reports. ) published.

Accidental discovery

Irradiation can degrade antibiotics. Wu Zhengyan accidentally discovered that his research was related to high-energy electron beam irradiation technology, and because his father was infected before, he was often infused during hospital treatment, but after each infusion, the total infusion bottle There will be residual liquid. In this regard, Wu Zhengyan left his heart and experimented with the residual liquid in the infusion bottle: let it be irradiated with high-energy electron beams. The results confirmed that this method is effective for amoxicillin, ofloxacin and cephalosporin antibiotics.

"High-energy electron beam irradiation technology uses a physical accelerator to accelerate the movement of the electron beam and release it. These electron beams are exposed to the antibiotic residue solution to produce an active group, which promotes the production of active free radicals in the antibiotic residue. This strong redox The role can be to turn the complex molecules in antibiotics into safe small molecules." Wu Zhengyan explained in an interview with the Journal of the Chinese Journal of Science and Technology that "the treated bottles need only be cleaned and reused." A few minutes.

Last year, at a technical exchange meeting organized by the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences, Huang Qifei, deputy director of the Solid Waste Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, said that there are more than 70 kinds of antibiotics produced each year in China, with an annual output of about 248,000 tons. It accounts for 70% of the world. Calculated by producing 1 ton of antibiotics to produce 10 tons of slag, 2 million tons of slag will be produced each year. The fresh slag has a moisture content of up to 90% and is highly susceptible to deterioration and odor. If it cannot be disposed of effectively in time, it will cause environmental pollution of the atmosphere, water and soil, increase the resistance of bacteria and endanger human health.

At present, the treatment of antibiotics in medical waste is generally carried out by landfill, incineration and biodegradation methods, but once the landfill is inadvertently, antibiotics will permeate around the landfill, causing secondary pollution; the flue gas after incineration also has air Certain pollution, and the cost of incineration is higher, up to 3,000 yuan per ton; as for the method of biodegradation, although it is safe and environmentally friendly, it takes too long.

Wu Zhengyan’s discovery is undoubtedly the gospel for the current status of large quantities of medical antibiotic waste produced in China.

Disinfection and sterilization at one time

Wu Zhengyan said that high-energy electron beam irradiation technology has been used in food disinfection. "In general, as long as there is a factory building, then a high-energy electron beam irradiation equipment can be purchased to build a pipeline. And, with such an assembly line, It can disinfect foods and degrade antibiotics."

During the degradation process, the operator can put multiple infusion bottles into the box and send them into the irradiated small space through the conveyor belt. After ten minutes of irradiation, amoxicillin, ofloxacin and cephalosporin antibiotics. It can be broken down into safe small molecules. According to this method, one device can process about 10,000 infusion bottles per hour. "The cost of processing a bottle is about 0.3 yuan, except for the cost of purchasing equipment." Wu Zhengyan said that because there is no precedent to follow, the current radiation dose for degrading antibiotics can only be explored by itself, and it is only effective against three antibiotics such as amoxicillin, ofloxacin and cephalosporin.

Now, Wu Zhengyan's research on antibiotic degradation continues. "Subsequent research is focused on two directions, one is the degradation of other antibiotics besides three antibiotics, and the other is the process of other types of medical waste treatment."