FAQ- Frequently Asked Questions

Several key requirements need to be identified:

• Will the system be treating solids? AUTOFLOW™ systems treat liquid waste, free of solids. ThermoBatch™ systems handle liquids and solids.
• What type of heating is preferred or available; steam or electric? Either one is acceptable and there are pros and cons of each.
• What will be the total volume of waste that will need to be treated, and what is the estimated peak flow in a 24 hour period? Volume from all drains has to be considered and storage and processing tanks sized appropriately.

Two types of steam heating are allowed under National Institute of Health (NIH) Plumbing Guidelines for Effluent Treatment Systems (also referred to as Effluent Decontamination Systems).
ALLOWED- Steam Jackets External to the Tank or Direct Steam Injection
NOT ALLOWED- Steam Coils Inside the Tank
Steam coils are not in compliance with NIH standards because they may fail, contaminating the steam boiler and related piping and water conditioning systems. Because other vendors use thinner materials in steam coils than PRI’s steam jackets, they are more likely to fail and need repair. There is also no way to easily determine whether the steam coil has developed a leak.

Steam Jackets have been in use not only in this industry but many others as a method to transfer heat, safely and efficiently for hundreds of years. Other vendors with limited knowledge or engineering capabilities speak of the possible failure of a Steam Jacket and encourage clients to select Steam Coils. In the past, these vendors had failures in their Steam Jackets when the Steam Jacket was also used to also cool the effluent by running chilled water into jacket. Simple logic tells you that once metal is hot you do not hit the metal with cold water or you will see thermal shock and a rapid reduction in temperature, causing significant stress on the metal. Other methods of cooling should be used such as a sparger or the use of heat exchangers.

Steam Jackets used to transfer heat have a wall thickness much greater than a coil and will provide a longer life span for the heating system.

There are no issues with flush mounted ball valves. Balls valves are an industry standard and have proved themselves reliable in all of our systems, including systems that have been in continuous operation for over 10 years. Proper engineering and proper selection of all devices is critical to ensure the best system is provided.

A vendor has been raising issues with flush mounted ball valves and has been encouraging facilities to purchase Effluent Treatment Systems with “dead legs”. The pharmaceutical industry does not allow “dead legs” in any major system and in the case of an Effluent Decontamination System, one would expect the same. A “dead leg” is a potential problem for biological sterilization. Not only does this create the potential for pathogens to survive, it also creates the need for an additional heating and monitoring system, that in-turn, is an additional point of failure in the system. With a “dead leg” and a horizontal ball valve in place, you are not increasing the life of the ball valve as the valve is equally exposed to the same operation; open and closed. It is simply in a different position.

No. A basket or strainer to collect solids is a design mistake. PRI’s system is designed to treat liquids containing solids and will treat any solid that will flow through the waste lines. All output drains and valves in the system will handle any solids that the input piping to the system will allow to pass.

A basket or strainer in the cook tank creates the issue of trapped solids and how they are to be removed from the tank. Protocol in most labs requires the piping and vessels be decontaminated before entry; with decontamination meaning more thorough process than just running the cook tank through a cycle.

To clean a basket in the vessel, a man way will have to be opened and the solids removed manually from the tank.

There is no way to determine that from outside the vessel and doing it as routine maintenance on a regular basis may not be adequate due to the unpredictability of the effluent composition flowing to the tank.

Vendors using collection baskets have “dead legs” in their system and steam coils in the tanks and are trying to protect their dead legs from being clogged and the coils from building up thick layers of cooked solids on the metal, reducing the heat transfer capability of the system.