SI20410A - Method and device for recycling and decontaminating bag type objects such as disposable gloves for white rooms - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a cleaner (3) arranged upstream of a sorting station (1), having an outlet (8) open inside a closed chamber (9) whereof the air is conditioned and wherein the bag type objects are displaced towards a dryer (10). The conditioning station (13), downstream of the dryer is also located in the closed chamber, thereby limiting the particular contamination generated by the ambient air. The invention is useful for treating disposable gloves for white rooms.

Description

D.P.S. S.A.M.

Process and preparation for recycling and decontamination of pockets, such as disposable gloves for clean rooms

The present invention generally relates to the decontamination of pockets made from natural latex material or plastic materials such as polyethylene or polypropylene, or, again, non-porous or microporous polymers, which are generally disposable and which are more specifically used in controlled atmospheric environments.

More specifically, the invention relates to a process and apparatus for recycling and decontamination of said disposable pockets for clean rooms.

The items under consideration can thus be both plastic bags and gloves made of natural or synthetic latex, vinyl or other polymer. Also included are all pocket-sized products and those whose water permeability is very low or zero.

The only exceptions, therefore, are water-permeable products such as textiles or any other product that can be generally washed and effectively dried in domestic or industrial washing machines and dryers.

It is difficult to dry non-porous pockets because it is very difficult to remove the water that has been introduced into them during washing. There are, however, important factors that prevent drying, in particular surface tension between two thin, water-trapping layers and the inability of steam to pass through the pocket due to the non-porosity of the materials under consideration.

This applies to gloves that are now used in clean rooms and are discarded every time users leave the room, that is, every two hours.

DE 1 642 128 describes a process for recycling and decontamination of pockets, such as disposable gloves.

The process according to the invention allows the gloves to be recycled several times and thus reused as new, non-degraded gloves for secondary uses, thereby reducing the average cost and share of discarded products.

The process and preparation according to the invention relate to products primarily intended for the controlled atmosphere, and for this reason the decontamination bath as well as the detergents used are of great importance. Indeed, some decontamination fluids are susceptible to damage to the material, and detergents may be the cause of residual contamination on products that are incompatible with their use in processes performed in controlled atmospheres.

So far, decontamination has been carried out in industrial machines with deionized filtered water as well as detergent containing non-ionic, cationic or anionic substances to reduce surface tension. Washing parameters such as time, temperature, drying rate and number of cycles vary depending on the amount of water and detergent used.

In addition, in order to prevent water from entering the pockets, which subsequently presents difficulties in drying, the pockets in the bundles are connected round and round to be hermetically sealed. However, drying is carried out in conventional industrial type dryers. The only factors that affect the drying time are the temperature and volume of the material loaded into the drum.

Such treatments result directly from the decontamination of textiles intended for controlled atmospheres and are easily assessed to allow only the decontamination of the outer surfaces of pockets.

Now, in the case of gloves or pockets that have already been used in controlled atmospheres, it is not enough to just wash one surface on one of two sides, it is necessary to remove the user path and, on the other hand, the polluting elements due to the operation performed, since the glove must be returned to its original configuration, both physically and in terms of the absence of particles and bacteria.

The invention avoids these disadvantages by providing a process and preparation that can be used to wash the pocket or glove on both sides, internal and external, thereby obtaining a recycled and / or decontaminated product at a lower cost , as it is for the product itself, when it is new, which allows at the same time limiting the industrial disposal of the materials under consideration.

The first object of the invention is thus a process for recycling and decontamination of pockets, such as disposable gloves for clean rooms, the process being:

ensure that the pockets that are indelibly marked are sorted, as well as their counting and computer tracking carried out;

washing and decontamination of pockets shall be carried out using water for washing and rinsing, as well as equipment treated as non-polluting; the washed pockets are transferred to a drying unit inside a sealed and air-conditioned room equipped with devices to limit product contamination;

the dried pockets are transported to a packing station located inside the sealed compartment where they are placed in bags; the pockets are directed out of the sealed space.

The second main object of the invention is the preparation for carrying out the process of recycling and decontamination of pockets, such as disposable gloves, wherein in the preparation there is a washing machine which is positioned downstream of the sorting station, exit doors which open inside a sealed space of which the air is air-conditioned and in which the pockets move towards the dryer, which is also housed in a sealed space.

Further specific features and advantages of the invention will follow from the following description of an embodiment where reference is made to the accompanying drawing, which is a schematic representation of a device according to the invention for recycling and decontamination.

Figure 1 schematically represents a preparation for recycling and decontamination of gloves.

Gloves worn with water and solvents indelible markings are collected in Variety Stations 1. The gloves are rotated to the right side and sorted manually or automatically by size in the case of those thought to have non-removable stains or cuts or torn places. . Those that are not considered recyclable are discarded. Thanks to the use of computer tracking of the aforementioned tags, the number of products at the size of the number of products being discarded and the number of product recycling being sorted and evaluated as satisfactory are considered.

Computer monitoring allows you to determine, on a real-time basis, who the customer subscribers are and how the sizes used are being developed, enabling the manufacturer to plan his production campaign to actual use. In addition, it enables the processing of sales chain documents, as well as the readjustment of new products automatically for each customer, thus meeting industry requirements and controlling all parameters required in the module, whether fixed or mobile. and essential for repairing the operation of the module, allowing all operations to be halted when one of the parameters no longer meets the specifications that enable decontamination to meet the industrial needs of the recycled customer.

At the exit of the sorting station 1, the gloves 2 point - the arrow with a dashed line - towards the washing machine 3 into which they enter through the door 4. The washing machine, which is positioned downstream of the sorting station, is supplied with a unit 5 for the preparation of ultra-pure water. . This water is obtained by filtering on activated charcoal up to at least 5 micrometers. A washing agent is added to the washing line with at least one nonionic or cationic surface tension reducing agent of the quaternary ammonium species or a mixture of these surface tension reducing agents. At least one disinfectant having bactericidal, viricidal, fungicidal and oxidizing properties is also added. The water is deionized and treated with osmosis.

The rinse water is introduced into the washing machine preferably filtered to at least 1 micrometer. The decontamination water is dionized and filtered to at least 0.45 micrometers.

The washing machine 3 is equipped with a non-return valve 6 at the valve 7 for draining excess water as well as at least one cartridge which is not shown for filtering up to at least 1 micrometer mounted on the openings of the machine. All of the elements intended to circulate the fluid are made of a non-polluting material, that is, a material that allows only minimal emission of metal ions or particles in water due to various pieces in contact with water.

The washing machine is equipped with an exit door 8 which opens into a sealed space 9, thus limiting the individual contamination caused by the surrounding air.

The gloves are placed in the washing machine and go through at least one washing operation, through at least one rinsing operation, at least one decontamination operation, and through at least one drying operation.

After the gloves are recovered through door 8, they are moved through space 9, as shown by the arrow with a continuous line, toward the dryer 10, whose access door 11 is inside the room.

An airtight device is installed in the dryer 10 to allow mechanical mixing of the products. It also envisages the circulation of clean hot air, filtered to at least 1 micrometer, from the supply source 12, creating a negative pressure of at least 50 mbar. Drying pockets with zero or very low porosity is thus enabled at a time that allows the resulting products to be kept interesting. Provision is also made for a complementary device for ionizing air, which allows the residual individual contamination present in pockets or gloves to be reduced according to the stated industrial requirements, and in particular to significantly reduce the number of particles with dimensions less than 1 micrometer or potentially modifying the electrostatic charges of pockets or gloves.

After this drying operation, the gloves are directed - arrow with dashed line - still in the sealed space 9 towards the packing station 13, which is indoors and lying downwards relative to the drying machine 10. Pockets or gloves are introduced there into bags or bundles which are e.g. made of polyethylene or polypropylene and is pure in particulate matter and made of single or double sheaths with tight welds and under partial vacuum.

Once packed, the products are directed out of the sealed compartment 9.

Within this space, in which the washing, drying and packing operations are carried out successively, and the transfer between stations, and which houses the management and staff required for the various manual operations and tasks, the air is conditioned and controlled by the supply of clean, fresh air, which is restored at least ten times per hour. This space, generally known as clean space, is needed to ensure cleanliness with respect to the particles that are essential for the products being processed. Therefore, the operators in charge of these operations wear at least gloves, a special headgear and dress in one piece with characteristics similar to those used in clean rooms in accordance with applicable laws. If certain operations are carried out with automatic systems, they must be adapted so that they do not pollute.

The process of the invention thus provides a technically and industrially competitive solution for recycling pockets or gloves with zero or low porosity.

In fact, it allows, in comparison with the processes used so far, to wash both sides of the products under consideration effectively, using, in particular, a special drying process that allows the liquid phase to be present inside the pockets or gloves to evaporate, whilst at the same time thanks to a recycling operation , lowers the price of a product relative to a new product.

The process also reduces the waste of products sent to waste or incinerators by allowing their recycling and therefore their low cost reuse, which is now being done on an industrial scale in the case of very porous textile materials but very small and unprofitable the products referred to in that procedure.

Claims (10)

Patent claims 1. A process for recycling and decontamination of pockets (2), such as disposable gloves for clean rooms, characterized in that it exists in: ensuring the sorting of pockets that are indelibly marked, as well as their counting and computer tracking; performing the washing and decontamination of pockets, using water for washing and rinsing, as well as equipment that is treated as non-polluting; transferring washed pockets inside a sealed air-conditioned space (9) to a drying unit equipped with devices (11) that limit product contamination; carrying the dried pockets to a packing station (13) which is housed inside the sealed compartment where they are inserted into the bags; pointing the packed pockets out of the sealed compartment (9). Recycling and decontamination process according to claim 1, characterized in that the pockets (2) are turned to the right side and sorted by size after being individually labeled, non-removable for water and solvents. 3. A method for recycling and decontamination according to claim 1, characterized in that the detergent is added to the washing water with a non-ionic or cationic surfactant or a mixture of these surfactants and at least one disinfectant having bactericidal , viricidal, fungicidal and oxidizing properties. Process for recycling and decontamination according to claims 1 and 3, characterized in that the pockets (2) undergo at least one washing operation, at least one rinsing operation, at least one decontamination operation and at least one drying twist operation. Recycling and decontamination process according to claim 1, characterized in that the drying unit (10) provides for hot air to be filtered to at least 1 micrometer and at a negative pressure of at least 50 mbar. Recycling and decontamination process according to claims 1 and 5, characterized in that the individual contamination of the pockets (2) is reduced by the potential modification of its electrostatic charges. Recycling and decontamination process according to claim 1, characterized in that the pockets (2) are introduced into bags which are in the form of a single or double sheath with tight welds and under partial vacuum. Device for recycling and decontamination of pockets, such as disposable gloves for clean rooms, for carrying out the process according to claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the washing machine (3) is positioned downstream of the sorting station (1) and has an outlet doors (8) that open into a sealed space (9), the air of which is conditioned and in which the pockets (2) move in the direction of the drying device (10), and that a station station (13) is also housed inside the sealed space down relative to the dryer. Recycling and decontamination device according to claim 8, characterized in that the washing machine (3) is provided with a non-return valve (6) on the valve (7) for emptying excess water as well as at least one filter cartridge up to at least 1 micrometer , which is mounted on the openings of the machine drum. Recycling and decontamination device according to claim 9, characterized in that the circulation of clean hot air through the drying device (10) comes from a supply source (12) outside the sealed space (9).