Valorisation of medical waste through pyrolysis for a cleaner environment: Progress and challenges

Guangcan Su; Hwai Chyuan Ong; Shaliza Ibrahim; I M Rizwanul Fattah; M Mofijur; Cheng Tung Chong

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116934

Valorisation of medical waste through pyrolysis for a cleaner environment: Progress and challenges

Environ Pollut. 2021 Jun 15:279:116934. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116934. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Authors

Guangcan Su¹, Hwai Chyuan Ong², Shaliza Ibrahim³, I M Rizwanul Fattah⁴, M Mofijur⁵, Cheng Tung Chong⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² School of Information, Systems and Modelling, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia. Electronic address: HwaiChyuan.Ong@uts.edu.au.
³ Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁴ School of Information, Systems and Modelling, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia.
⁵ School of Information, Systems and Modelling, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia; Mechanical Engineering Department, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahad University, Al Khobar, 31952, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ China-UK Low Carbon College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Lingang, Shanghai, 201306, China.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted great shocks and challenges to the environment, society and economy. Simultaneously, an intractable issue appeared: a considerable number of hazardous medical wastes have been generated from the hospitals, clinics, and other health care facilities, constituting a serious threat to public health and environmental sustainability without proper management. Traditional disposal methods like incineration, landfill and autoclaving are unable to reduce environmental burden due to the issues such as toxic gas release, large land occupation, and unsustainability. While the application of clean and safe pyrolysis technology on the medical wastes treatment to produce high-grade bioproducts has the potential to alleviate the situation. Besides, medical wastes are excellent and ideal raw materials, which possess high hydrogen, carbon content and heating value. Consequently, pyrolysis of medical wastes can deal with wastes and generate valuable products like bio-oil and biochar. Consequently, this paper presents a critical and comprehensive review of the pyrolysis of medical wastes. It demonstrates the feasibility of pyrolysis, which mainly includes pyrolysis characteristics, product properties, related problems, the prospects and future challenges of pyrolysis of medical wastes.

Keywords: Bio-oil; Biochar; COVID-19 pandemic; Environmental sustainability; Medical wastes management; Thermogravimetric analysis.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Medical Waste*
Pandemics
Pyrolysis
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Medical Waste