Can pyrolysis handle biomedical wastes?: Assessing the potential of various biomedical waste treatment technologies in tackling pandemics.

Globally, COVID-19 has not only caused tremendous negative health, social and economic impacts, but it has also led to environmental issues such as a massive increase in biomedical waste. The biomedical waste (BMW) was generated from centralized (hospitals, clinics, and research facilities) and extended (quarantine camps, COVID-19 test camps, and quarantined homes) healthcare facilities. Many effects, such as the possibility of infection spread, unlawful dumping/disposal, and an increase in toxic emissions by common BMW treatment facilities, are conjectured because of the rise in waste generation. However, it is also an opportunity to critically analyze the current BMW treatment scenario and implement changes to make the system more economical and environmentally sustainable. In this review, the waste disposal guidelines of the BMW management infrastructure are critically analyzed for many functional parameters to bring out possible applications and limitations of individual interventions. In addition, an investigation was made to select appropriate technology based on the environmental setting.

Combined effect of hydrodynamic and interfacial flow parameters on lysozyme deactivation in a stirred tank bioreactor.

The dynamic environment within a bioreactor and in the purification equipment is known to affect the activity and yield of enzyme production. The present research focuses on the effect of hydrodynamic flow parameters (average energy dissipation rate, maximum energy dissipation rate, average shear rate, and average normal stress) and the interfacial flow parameters (specific interfacial area and mass transfer coefficient) on the activity of lysozyme. Flow parameters were estimated using CFD simulation based on the k-epsilon approach. Enzyme deactivation was investigated in 0.1, 0.3, 0.57, and 1 m i.d. vessels. Enzyme solution was subjected to hydrodynamic stress using various types of impellers and impeller combinations over a wide range of power consumption (0.03 < P(G)/V < 7, kW/m3). The effects of tank diameter, impeller diameter, blade width, blade angle, and the number of blades on the extent of deactivation were investigated. At equal value of P(G)/V, epsilon(max), and gamma(avg), the extent of deactivation was dramatically different for different impeller types. The extent of deactivation was found to correlate well with the average turbulent normal stress and the mass transfer coefficient.