The ETO mixtures are available in differing mix ratios of Ethylene Oxide and Carbon Dioxide as per customer requirements. For these mixtures, Carbon Dioxide is used as a propellant rather than freon or any other chlorofluorocarbons (CFC s) which are detrimental to the earth s ozone layer. Which is why their usage is also being phased out world-wide.
Benefits
ETO mixtures are used by health care facilities world-wide for sensitive instruments which cannot be adequately sterilized by either steam or liquid disinfectants due to the reasons mentioned below:
Steam Sterilization
It damages sensitive medical equipment due to its high pressure and temperature.
The steam autoclaves are expensive and difficult to maintain.
Liquid Disinfectants
These have short disinfection cycles, which can fail to kill resistant micro-organisms.
They cannot be used for all medical material and are also highly corrosive and toxic.
As these are in liquid form, they cannot be used with barrier packaging.
In contrast, ETO, even with repeated use, treats most medical material gently. Its property of permeating through barrier packaging enables.
Medical instruments to be sealed prior to sterilization, which in turn ensures maintenance of sterility for an extended period.
Applications
The ETO Mixtures are used for a wide spectrum of applications including sterilization of medical equipment, treatment of foodstuffs, raw material for cosmetics and preservation of paper products. The details are given below.
