martes, 22 de julio de 2014

How Waterless Urinals Work

How Waterless Urina
  • ls Work

    By Karen Pilarski 
    A standard urinal uses water to flush the urine into a pipe known as a “P-trap.” The shape of this pipe, which is not unlike the ones installed under most sinks in restrooms and kitchens, creates a water seal that prevents sewer gases from escaping into the restroom. 

    “Plumbing code states you can have a certain amount of liquid between people in the bathroom and sewer gases,” Schneringer explains. 

    Unlike standard urinals, however, waterless urinal pipes are installed on a downward pitch to allow the urine to flow naturally to a central discharge pipe or into the main sewer line. If there are urine puddles in the urinal, then the pipe may be installed incorrectly. To prevent sewer gases and urine odors from entering the restroom, waterless urinals require a cartridge to be securely inserted into the urinal drain. 

    When urine flows into the cartridge, it acts as a funnel using gravity to pull the urine into the drain opening and into the facility’s plumbing system. The cartridge further contains a liquid sealant — a buoyant fluid that floats to the top of the cartridge as urine enters and overflows the contraption — that serves as a barrier between urine, sewer lines and the restroom. Ultimately, this sealant helps to prevent urine malodors. 

    The common “ammonia” smell that is often found in commercial restrooms is the result of a chemical reaction between urine and water. To make matters worse, the water that is left behind after flushing remains on the surface of the urinal, and becomes a breeding ground for germs and bacteria. With waterless urinals, the only fluid to hit the surface of the unit is urine — generally a sterile substance — which drains and evaporates from the surface leaving it dry shortly after use. 

    “The longevity of the sealant liquid depends on traffic of the facility. In an airport or mall the sealant would need to be changed on a more frequent basis,” Schneringer says. “If the sealant depletes or accidently gets flushed down the drain too fast, or if the sealant is not present, the sewer gas comes up through the pipes. This is what causes the unpleasant fragrance.”

    According to manufacturers, cartridges need only to be changed out three to four times a year, or after roughly 1,500 uses. And since regular irrigation isn’t required for these urinals, there is no water “turbulence,” aka the plummage of water and microbes sent into the air following flushing. 

    These devices also hold urine sentiment — otherwise known as urinal scale, sludge or calcification — the buildup of which can be a main source of restroom piping issues leading to expensive sewer maintenance costs. 
    - See more at: http://www.cleanlink.com/cp/article/How-Waterless-Urinals-Work--17238?source=focuson7/22/2014#sthash.NHgyQPpz.dpuf

    martes, 8 de julio de 2014

    QUICK DRUG TEST

    Portable Lab Quickly Spots Cocaine in Urine

    Tue, 07/08/2014 - 7:00am
    ACS
    As part of a portable cocaine test that takes just minutes, this microfluidic device extracts drugs of abuse from dried urine samples. Image: ACSAs part of a portable cocaine test that takes just minutes, this microfluidic device extracts drugs of abuse from dried urine samples. Image: ACSTesting for cocaine and other drugs usually involves two steps: a quick on-site prescreen, and then a more accurate confirmatory test at a distant laboratory. This process can take days or weeks — but that’s too long in many cases where public safety is at risk. Now, researchers report development of a backpack-sized device that can perform highly accurate and sensitive tests anywhere within 15 minutes. The study appears in ACS’ journal Analytical Chemistry.
    Aaron Wheeler and colleagues explain that the current two-stage system of testing urine for drugs of abuse is expensive and time-consuming. The samples also could get lost or compromised while in transport. The ideal solution, they say, is to skip the prescreening step and instead bring the lab to the site — but in an easy-to-use, portable package. Currently, when samples arrive at labs for confirmation testing, trained technicians use a “gold-standard” method, relying on sample processing, liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to analyze them. Small versions of instruments that implement these techniques can provide results at or near lab-quality, but they haven’t been optimized and tested together as a single, portable instrument. Wheeler’s team set out to do just that.
    They put together a compact system that can do all the steps — extracting drugs of abuse from urine with a microfluidic device coupled to a small mass spectrometer that can identify the substances. The backpack-sized instrument could analyze cocaine, benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine) and codeine in four samples in less than 15 minutes. The amount of cocaine they could detect was compatible with limits set by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The researchers say the device could be used for many different kinds of tests in which laboratory-quality results are needed quickly.
    The authors acknowledge funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada and the U.S.National Science Foundation.

    TYPES OF DISINFECTANTS TO USE FOR HEALTH

    Types of Disinfectants Used in Healthcare Facilities

    By Lisa Ridgely 

    In order for a product to be labeled a disinfectant, it needs to be approved by and registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 
    The EPA has recently published a list of hospital-grade disinfectants that have been tested or are pending testing, says Hicks. The Antimicrobial Testing Program list includes those whose efficacy has been confirmed, as well as products that are under EPA deliberation.

    The EPA breaks disinfectants into the following categories: bleach, phenols, quats, accelerated hydrogen peroxide, botanicals and silver dihydrogen citrate.

    Disinfectant wipes can also be a good solution, especially for areas that need to be cleaned quickly, or by non-environmental services personnel. 
    A number of facilities are incorporating accelerated hydrogen peroxides into cleaning programs, which not only work very effectively as a disinfectant and tuberculocidal, but are also gentle on surfaces and on people. The drawback is most of them are ready-to-use (RTU) only, adding a significant price increase per use of the product. 

    “For large areas, like floors, the RTU accelerated hydrogen peroxides don’t make sense. But if you’re cleaning up blood or urine or other bodily fluids, you want to use a tuberculocidal hydrogen peroxide product for specific things like that,” says Beatrix Babcock of HGI Consulting in Denver.
    Most sophisticated cleaning operations use a dilution control system for disinfection, Thomas says — and the price difference between concentrated chemicals and RTU chemicals is tremendous.

    “Using a concentrate might cost you 20 cents a quart in diluted form whereas an RTU disinfectant might cost $5 a quart — but in a healthcare environment where accreditation is at stake and compliance is required, the cost may be justified,” Thomas says. “Most of these products with quicker dwell times are ready-to-use, so you’re weighing cost against time, and when time is money, it can make sense to use the product that allows you to work more efficiently.”

    The benefits of hydrogen peroxide technology are four-fold, says Attman: disinfecting a wider range of microorganisms, faster, safer, and greener.
    “When you use it on a surface, you’re really going to get the necessary penetration in that one minute kill claim — versus the alcohol-based quat products that have a two-minute dwell time which also may require a cleaning of the surface,” Attman says.

    Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is the most difficult infection to kill and currently a huge priority and problem in healthcare facilities. The only disinfectants that work against this threat are accelerated hydrogen peroxide and bleach-based products. 

    Faster Dwell Times Here To Stay

    Any time a manufacturer releases a new disinfectant, the goal will be to get as short a dwell time as possible, Thomas says. But 30 seconds may be the limit as to how fast disinfectants achieve efficacy.

    “Typically, dry time for any liquid product that is sprayed on a surface is two to three minutes, so I would think that would be the goal for most products that currently have longer dwell times,” he says. 

    Some facilities will continue to use products with a 10-minute dwell time, however; those types of disinfectants are tried and true, and aren’t going away. 

    “There will still be a place for the 10-minute dwell time. If a public or private office building has a presentable restroom and the janitorial services are using a disinfectant with a 10-minute dwell time, nobody’s going to question that. Building managers aren’t going to want to pay more for a different, more expensive product,” Thomas says.  
    - See more at: http://www.cleanlink.com/sm/article/Types-of-Disinfectants-Used-in-Healthcare-Facilities--17220?source=focuson07/08/2014#sthash.RYD0nxOY.dpuf

    Vistas de página en total

    GREEN CHEMICALS

    The Green Seal certification is granted by the organization with that name and has a great number of members contributing with the requirements to pass a raw material or a chemical product as "green". Generally for a material to be green, has to comply with a series of characteristics like: near neutral pH, low volatility, non combustible, non toxic to aquatic life, be biodegradable as measured by oxygen demand in accordance with the OECD definition.
    Also the materials have to meet with toxicity and health requirements regarding inhalation, dermal and eye contact. There is also a specific list of materials that are prohibited or restricted from formulations, like ozone-depleting compounds and alkylphenol ethoxylates amongst others. Please go to http://www.greenseal.com/ for complete information on their requirements.
    For information on current issues regarding green chemicals, see the blog from the Journalist Doris De Guzman, in the ICIS at: http://www.icis.com/blogs/green-chemicals/.
    Certification is an important — and confusing — aspect of green cleaning. Third-party certification is available for products that meet standards set by Green Seal, EcoLogo, Energy Star, the Carpet & Rug Institute and others.
    Manufacturers can also hire independent labs to determine whether a product is environmentally preferable and then place the manufacturer’s own eco-logo on the product; this is called self-certification. Finally, some manufacturers label a product with words like “sustainable,” “green,” or “earth friendly” without any third-party verification.
    “The fact that there is not a single authoritative standard to go by adds to the confusion,” says Steven L. Mack M.Ed., director of buildings and grounds service for Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.
    In www.happi.com of June 2008 edition, there is a report of Natural formulating markets that also emphasises the fact that registration of "green formulas" is very confused at present, due to lack of direction and unification of criteria and that some governmental instittion (in my opinion the EPA) should take part in this very important issue.