RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Although the circuit condensate, an ideal bacterial reservoir during mechanical ventilation, may flow into the humidifier reservoir, no studies have investigated if humidifier reservoir colonized bacteria colonize other circuit locations with airflow. AIMS: We aimed to prove whether the humidifier reservoir colonized bacteria colonize other circuit locations with airflow and provide some advice on the disposal of condensate in the clinical setting. STUDY DESIGN: An in vitro experiment was conducted. Mechanical ventilation simulators (n = 90) were divided into sterile water group (n = 30) and broth group (n = 60). In the sterile water group, sterile water was used for humidification, either Acinetobacter baumannii or Pseudomonas aeruginosa were inoculated to humidifier water in the humidifier reservoir, each accounted for 50% of the simulators. The broth group was performed the same as the sterile water group except for the addition of broth into the humidified water. After 24, 72, and 168 h of continuous ventilation, the humidifier water and different locations of the circuits were sampled for bacterial culture. RESULTS: All bacterial culture results of the sterile water group were negative. Bacteria in the humidifier water continued to proliferate in the broth group. With prolonged ventilation, the bacteria at the humidifier reservoir outlet increased. The bacteria at the humidifier reservoir outlet were much more in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa subgroup than in the Acinetobacter baumannii subgroup and the difference was statistically significant (p < .05). During continuous ventilation, no bacterial growth occurred at 10 cm from the humidifier reservoir outlet and the Y-piece of the ventilator circuits. CONCLUSIONS: Sterile water in the humidifier reservoir was not conducive to bacterial growth. Even if bacteria grew in the humidifier reservoir and could reach the humidifier reservoir outlet, colonization of further circuit locations with the airflow was unlikely. During a certain mechanical ventilation time, the amount of bacteria reaching the outlet of the humidifier reservoir varied due to different mobility of bacteria. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: In a clinical setting, nurses should not worry about a small amount of condensate backflow into the humidifier reservoir. Draining condensate into the humidifier reservoir can be used as a low risk and convenient method in clinical practice.
RESUMO
A novel biomass columnar activated carbon was prepared from walnut shell and pyrolusite was added as a catalyst. The activated carbon prepared was used for flue gas desulphurization in a fixed-bed reactor with 16 g of activated carbon. The impact of operating parameters such as SO2 inlet concentration, space velocity, bed temperature, moisture content and O2 concentration on the desulfurization efficiency of activated carbon was investigated. The results showed that both the breakthrough sulfur capacity and breakthrough time of activated carbon decreased with the increase of SO2 inlet concentration within the range of 0.1% -0.3%. The breakthrough sulfur capacity deceased with the increase of space velocity, with optimal space velocity of 600 h(-1). The optimal bed temperature was 80 degrees C, and the desulfurization efficiency can be reduced if the temperature continue to increase. The presence of moisture and oxygen greatly promoted the adsorption of SO2 onto the activated carbon. The best moisture content was 10%. When the oxygen concentrations were between 10% and 13%, the desulfurization performance of activated carbon was the highest. Under the optimal operating conditions, the sulfur capacity of activated carbon was 252 mg x g(-1), and the breakthrough time was up to 26 h when the SO2 inlet concentration was 0.2%.
