Portable Electrochemical COVID-19 Unit for Biomedical Wastewater Treatment

大量的新冠肺炎生物医药保健液固废物要么因技术不到位而得不到妥善处理，要么根本没有得到处理。通常，医疗保健液体和固体废物处理所涉及的四个基本工艺是使用热、化学、辐射和生物工艺的常规系统。没有连接到综合废水处理系统并使用接触室/水箱的医院或保健设施将需要采取额外措施。新冠肺炎大流行对废物和废水的潜在影响是：(I)病毒在废物容器、袋子和废水等材料上的半衰期很长，以及(Ii)可能通过受污染的废物表面和废水系统的气雾剂传播。因此，替代和高效的处理过程和缓解措施至关重要。南艾伯塔省理工学院(SAIT)与蓝伊甸园清洁技术公司(BE)合作，快速组装、测试、评估一种新型、高性能和高性价比的电化学装置，并将其商业化，该装置能够从生物医疗废水中清除新冠肺炎和病原体。BE通过应用其用于废水处理的电气浮和电化学氧化设备，在高级电化学方面拥有专业知识。BE在专有配置中利用掺硼钻石电极产生臭氧和羟基(OH)自由基，有效地销毁新冠肺炎污染。BE的加拿大技术可以提供一个潜在的解决方案，以减少与废水相关的对公众和环境的健康风险。

A large amount of COVID-19 biomedical and healthcare liquid and solid wastes is either not appropriately treated due to inadequate technologies, or not treated at all. Typically, the four basic processes involved in the treatment of healthcare liquid and solid wastes are conventional systems using thermal, chemical, irradiative and biological processes. Hospitals or health care facilities that are not connected to a comprehensive wastewater treatment system and use a contact chamber/tank will require additional measures. The potential ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on waste and wastewater are: (i) the long half-life of the virus on materials such as waste containers, bags, and in wastewater, and (ii) the possible transmission via contaminated waste surfaces and aerosols from wastewater systems. Therefore alternative and highly effective treatment processes and mitigation measures are critical. The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is partnering with Blue Eden CleanTech Inc. (BE), to rapidly assemble, test, evaluate and commercialize a novel, high performance and cost-effective electrochemical unit which is capable of COVID-19 and pathogen destruction from biomedical wastewater. BE has expertise in advanced electrochemistry through the application of its electro-flotation and electrochemical oxidation devices for wastewater treatment. BE utilizes Boron Doped Diamond (BDD) electrodes in a proprietary configuration to produce ozone and hydroxyl (OH) radicals for effective destruction of COVID-19 contamination. BE's Canadian technology can provide a potential solution to reduce the wastewater associated health risks to the public and the environment.