Clean up following the wide-area release of a persistent biological agent has the potential to generate significant waste. Waste containing residual levels of biological contaminants may require off-site shipment under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (US DOT) solid waste regulations for Category A infectious agents, which has packaging and size limitations that do not accommodate large quantities. Treating the waste on-site to inactivate the bio-contaminants could alleviate the need for Category A shipping and open the possibility for categorizing the waste as conventional solid waste with similar shipping requirements as municipal garbage. To collect and package waste for on-site treatment, a semi-permeable nonwoven-based fabric was developed. The fabric was designed to contain residual bio-contaminants while providing sufficient permeability for penetration by a gaseous decontamination agent. The nonwoven fabric was tested in two bench-scale experiments. First, decontamination efficacy and gas permeability were evaluated by placing test coupons inoculated with spores of a surrogate inside the nonwoven material. After chlorine dioxide fumigation, the coupons were analyzed for spore viability and results showed a ≥6 Log reduction on all test materials except glass. Second, filters cut from the nonwoven material were tested in parallel with commercially available cellulose acetate filters having a known pore size (0.45 μm) and results demonstrate that the two materials have similar permeability characteristics. Overall, results suggest that the nonwoven material could be used to package waste at the point of generation and then moved to a nearby staging area where it could be fumigated to inactivate bio-contaminants.

中文翻译：

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使用半透袋材料促进生物制剂污染废物的现场处理

持久性生物制剂大范围释放后的清理工作可能会产生大量废物。根据美国运输部 (US DOT) 针对 A 类传染性病原体的固体废物法规，含有残留生物污染物的废物可能需要进行场外运输，该法规具有包装和尺寸限制，无法容纳大量。对废物进行现场处理以灭活生物污染物可以减轻对 A 类运输的需求，并为将废物分类为传统固体废物提供了可能性，其运输要求与城市垃圾类似。为了收集和包装废物以进行现场处理，开发了一种半渗透性无纺布。该织物设计用于容纳残留的生物污染物，同时提供足够的渗透性以供气态去污剂渗透。无纺布在两个小规模实验中进行了测试。首先，通过将接种有替代物孢子的测试试样放置在非织造材料内部来评估去污功效和透气性。二氧化氯熏蒸后，对试片进行孢子活力分析，结果显示除玻璃外的所有测试材料的对数减少≥6。其次，对从非织造材料切下的过滤器与具有已知孔径（0.45μm）的市售醋酸纤维素过滤器进行平行测试，结果表明这两种材料具有相似的渗透特性。总体而言，结果表明，非织造材料可用于在产生时包装废物，然后转移到附近的暂存区，在那里可以对其进行熏蒸以灭活生物污染物。