Public healthcare wastes from the city of Ribeirão Preto-SP, pre-sterilised in an autoclave, were inoculated with microrganisms of the species P. aeruginosa in vegetative form for microwave processing on a laboratory scale. An analysis was made of the influence of radiation exposure time (15, 25, 30 and 40 min) and power per waste mass unit (60, 80 and 100 W/kg) on the percentage of inactivation of the microrganisms at an incoming waste moisture level of 50% (wet basis). The experimental results were adjusted based on first-order kinetic model. The activation energies (in the range of 13.9 to 14.1 kJ/mol) and the Arrhenius pre-exponential factors (10.7 min-1) were determined by the least squares method. The kinetic parameters obtained allow one to predict by simulation the first-order kinetic constant achieved with P. aeruginosa in typical healthcare waste, based on the radiation exposure time and temperature for some levels of inactivation. For example, the waste disinfection time required for the inactivation level equivalent to 6.Log10 was estimated to 117 min for wastes processed at 100 W/kg and at temperatures of 100ºC.
Healthcare waste; disinfection; microwave; Pseudomonas aeruginosa
