Hospital Steam Sterilizers

Steam Boiler Uses

Ever wondered how hospitals keep surgical equipment clean? While disposable items are commonly used in every operating room, the most common tools are usually made of stainless steel and sanitized in a steam boiler called an autoclave. Autoclaves are also used in some hospitals to handle reusable items.

How Equipment Sterilization Works To sterilize equipment, the temperature must reach or exceed 270 degrees Fahrenheit (about 132°C). While many heat sources can reach this temperature, steam is the most commonly used sterilization method in hospitals today. Pressurized autoclaves remove all air and allow only steam to penetrate the chamber.

The main reason steam is used in pressurized systems like autoclaves is that steam generates moisture. The moisture from this steam can penetrate microorganisms and kill them much more effectively than other sterilization methods.

How a Boiler Works The operation of a steam boiler is a direct process that aligns with natural heating, cooling, and condensation processes. In most cases, raw water is fed into the boiler from the piping system. The water is then purified to clean it from impurities.

Next, the water is introduced into a de-aerator that removes air. To understand this concept better, think of an aerator used with wine. An aerator adds air to the liquid, while a de-aerator removes air.

From there, the water is introduced into the boiler tank and heated. Particles and other waste are filtered through a pipe called blowdown. Clean steam is captured by a series of pipes and cools into condensate. The condensate flows back to the de-aerator for reuse in the boiler.

How to Operate a Steam Boiler The operation of a steam boiler depends on the purpose and the boiler manufacturer. Before running a steam boiler system, make sure to read all the literature and become familiar with the device's operation.

From an operator's perspective, most boilers are user-friendly. For end-users, it can be as simple as adding water and pressing a button for smaller tabletop units. For more complex boilers, such as those providing steam for sterilization equipment, specific programs may need to be selected to run specific types of equipment or materials.

Benefits of Steam Heat There are many benefits to heating with steam over other heating methods. First, steam can be easily recycled within the boiler itself, meaning when you run your boiler, it will replenish the water supply from the steam collected from the main boiler. Steam also burns very cleanly and will not add additional steam or chemicals to the air.

Steam boilers are also the best way to purify water for cooking or drinking. Between the filtering systems that introduce water into the boiler and the additional purification that comes from the evaporation and condensation process, water that has been fully processed through the boiler will be safe for cooking, drinking, and bathing.

Steam Boilers for Home Use Since steam is a highly cost-effective form of heating, some homes are switching from gas or electric heat to steam. Many floor heating systems, for example, use steam as a replacement for gas due to the fire risk associated with short-circuiting electrical or gas triggers.

In-floor heating, for example, has a boiler underneath the floor's hot water pipes that run underneath your flooring material. When that water cools, it flows back through the boiler in the same way as an autoclave.

In addition to hospitals and hospitality, Steam Boilers provide significant benefits for many applications across various industrial sectors.

Some examples of these applications are listed below, but many others can be mentioned:

• Food Industry: Industrial bakeries, meat shops, rendering processes, processed and baby food manufacturing, beverages, dairy products
• Textile Industry: Rotary dryers, dyeing, rolling, and weaving
• Chemical Industry: Reactors and storage
• Pharmaceuticals: Drug and vaccine manufacturing, sterile steam
• Cosmetics: Perfumes, creams
• Paper/Printing Industry: Tunnel drying, printing drying, corrugated cardboard
• Cement Industry: Cement piece manufacturing
• Oil Industry: Heavy oil storage and distribution
• Wood Industry: Plywood and melamine processes
• Hospitals, Hotels: Laundry, cooking
• Surface Treatment & Automotive Industry: Metal finishing, electrodeposition