Autoclave study

Delphine Faugeroux

Office of Sustainability

1

What is an autoclave?An autoclave is a pressure chamber used to sterilize equipment and supplies by

subjecting them to high pressure saturated steam at 121°C (250°F) for around 15–20

minutes depending on the size of the load and the contents.

2

Autoclave in

Genomics

Building

Capacity:

540 Liters

UCR autoclaves numbers37 autoclaves on campus

Most of them are “Medical-grade” type

Started monitoring two “Steris” autoclaves in August 2015

Entomology = Building #1: One autoclave in the buildingStand alone steam supply ; 24”x36”x36” ; 2001

Live energy monitoring: boiler + autoclave

Also has a water meter that is measured weekly

# of runs per day recorded

Genomic = Building #2: 8 autoclaves in the buildingConnected to steam plant ; 36” ; 2008

Live water monitoring only

# of runs per day recorded

3

Designed for

constant

operation

Water meter

installed on

autoclave in

Entomology

Autoclave Study Goals

How often are autoclaves used on campus?

# of runs per day

Weekend vs weekday

How much water / energy do they use?

During a run / When idle

What are the more efficient options?

Water and energy

How to ensure the procurement of efficient units?

Stakeholders

4

Building #2: WATER – Daily use

No correlation between water use and number of runs 5

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

9/18 9/25 10/2 10/9 10/16 10/23 10/30 11/6 11/13 11/20 11/27 12/4 12/11 12/18 12/25 1/1 1/8 1/15 1/22 1/29 2/5 2/12 2/19 2/26 3/4 3/11 3/18 3/25 4/1 4/8

ga

ls u

se

d p

er

da

y

Daily Water use in Genomics Building

gallons of water used # of runs per day * 1000

39 days with no

use: 15,933 gal

of water

Meeting with a

technician to

reduce the

bleeding valve

flow

Building #2 : WATER – average per day

Since monitoring began: Average of 654 gal/day or 239,000 gal/year

Between 0 to 7 max runs per day

7

0

7

0.56

-

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

min max average

# runs per day

0

3,362

654

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

min max average

water - gal/day

53%

when

idle

Building #1: WATER and ENERGY

-

5.00

0.46

-

1

2

3

4

5

6

min max average

# runs per day

• Between 0 to 5 max runs per day

• On average, the unit uses 84kWh/day and 30,600 kWh for 1 year, as much as 4.2 ULT

freezers – based on 20kWh/day

8

Low use

Stand alone unit

11.20

222

84

-

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

225

250

min max average

energy - Kwh/day

40

3,583

648

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

min max average

water - gal/day

Autoclave study conclusion

Energy intensive: 84kWh/day

Water intensive:

Genomics: 654 gal/day

Entomology: 648 gal/day

Idle: 53% of water consumption

9

For 37 autoclaves :

8,800,000 gal/year

1,134 MWh/year

239,000

gal/year/autoclave

What are the other options on the market ?

10

Capacity up to: 500 Liters

Square Chambers

Use only 45 gal/cycle

No single pass cooling water

Need warm up

time

Cycles are longer

18kW on-demand steam

16,000 kWh/year for 5 cycle/day

New EHS Building – April 2016

Need low input: only for Bio-Hazard AND radioactive waste

Willing to try a different company, train potential users on site and use the unit as

a demo

Willing to add metering and share the data

Metering equipment: $1,200 , require collaboration with IT for internet connection

11

With energy and

water meters

Priorclave: Comparison with autoclave in Entomology

84

648

15.643.8

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

energy - Kwh/day water - gal/day

Energy and water use: Steris - Priorclave comparison for 1 run per day

Steris average Priorclave average

Based on the average of 1 cycle per day

12

81%

saving

93%

saving

New EHS building – case study

13

Cost analysis: Cost of a new unit: •Steris: $52,110 + maintenance : ̴ $3,000/year

•Priorclave: $39,865 + maintenance : based on usage + metering equipment $1,200

Operational costs saved for 1 autoclave: •Energy saving: 25,000 kWh per year saved or a minimum of $2,500/year @ $0.1/kWh

•Water saving : 220,000 gal/year

SAVING 1 years 15 years 20 years 25 years

Energy - $ $2,500 $37,500 $50,000 $ 62,500

Carbon - M Ton CO2 17.6 264 352 440

Water –M gallons 0.22 M 3.3 M 4.4 M 5.5 M

Choose the right autoclave

14

More than 1

run every 2

hours

Every day

Less than

1,000

cycles per

year

“MEDICAL” Grade “RESEARCH” Grade

Vacuum pumps / steam jacket

Constant maintenance

expense

No vacuum pimp / No steam

jacket

Maintenance only relative to

usage

“High-throughput” – designed

for 24/7 hospital use, over a

dozen cycles per day

“Light duty” – less than 5 cycles

per day

24/7 Independent steam

generator

On-demand in chamber steam

generator

Stakeholders for the studyBuilding managers

Autoclave users

Facilities for installation

EHS employees - autoclave users targeted

Architects and Engineers Department

Planning Department for future project/new building

Scientific Procurement Department for replacement

Develop a Procurement Guide for efficient scientific equipment15