Economic Impact Analysis of the Proposed Hospital Sterilizers Area Source Standard

摘要

The portions of the hospital industry that are affected by this proposal are NAICS 62211 (General Medical and Surgical Hospitals) and NAICS 62231 (Specialty (Except Psychiatric and Substance Abuse) Hospitals). This category potentially includes many types of hospitals such as academic medical center/university-based/teaching hospitals, community hospitals, specialty hospitals (i.e., orthopedic or pediatric), and tertiary care facilities that are qualified to handle major trauma cases (i.e., burns and catastrophic accidents). There are also distinctions between public and private hospitals, hospitals that are part of a healthcare system (i.e., organizations such as Kaiser Permanente), Veterans Administration hospitals, and other types of facilities. The predominant type of air pollution control devices are the EtO-Abator (TM) and the Safe-Cell technology. Both technologies reduce emissions by approximately 99 percent. The EtO-AbatorTM oxidizes the EO with a catalyst to form CO2 and water vapor. The latest version of the EtO-Abator (TM) (sold by 3M) is sold only for use with pure EO systems; however, earlier versions were used with gas blends. The Safe-Cell technology, which can be used with either pure EO or EO gas blends, is a two-stage process. In the first stage, an acid hydrolysis scrubber removes EO from the gas stream and converts it to ethylene glycol (EG); in the second stage, the remaining EO is captured and destroyed on a dry bed filter impregnated with a chemical reactant.