Ethylene oxide (EO) is a simple cyclic ether with a chemical formula of C2H4O, belonging to the class of heterocyclic compounds. Ethylene oxide is a colorless transparent liquid at low temperatures, with a boiling point of 10.4°C. It is a colorless gas with an ethereal pungent odor at room temperature. The vapor pressure of ethylene oxide gas is high, reaching 141kPa at 30°C. This high vapor pressure determines the strong diffusion and penetration of ethylene oxide during fumigation disinfection.
Ethylene oxide is the second generation of chemical disinfectants after formaldehyde. It is still one of the best cold disinfectants and is also one of the most important of the four major low-temperature sterilization technologies (low-temperature plasma, low-temperature formaldehyde steam, ethylene oxide, glutaraldehyde).
The advantages of ethylene oxide sterilization are:
① It can kill all microorganisms, including bacterial spores.② Sterilized items can be wrapped and packaged as a whole to keep them sterile before use.③ Relatively speaking, EO does not corrode plastics, metals and rubbers, and will not cause items to turn yellow and become brittle. ④ It can penetrate irregularly shaped items and sterilize them.⑤ It can be used to sterilize items that cannot be soaked in disinfectants, sterilized by dry heat, pressure, steam and other chemical gases.
What items are ethylene oxide mainly used for disinfection and sterilization? Ethylene oxide has a killing effect on various microorganisms such as bacterial spores, tuberculosis bacteria, fungi and viruses. It is a broad-spectrum sterilizer, and it does not corrode metals and has no residual odor. Therefore, it is widely used in medical disinfection and industrial sterilization. It is often used in the sterilization process of washing, pharmaceuticals, printing and dyeing, textiles and other methods that cannot be disinfected or cannot withstand high-temperature disinfection, as well as surgical equipment.
Common application objects mainly include: electronic instruments, optical instruments, medical devices, books, documents, fur, cotton, chemical fibers, plastic products, wood products, ceramics and metal products, endoscopes, dialyzers and disposable medical supplies.
