Protection of hospitals and healthcare centers with vaporized hydrogen peroxide

HPP270 H₂O₂ Vapor Probe

Iacobus is the Greek variant of the Hebrew word meaning “held by the heel,” but the original definition is probably derived from an Aramaic expression meaning “may God protect.” Iacobus Sp z.o.o was founded in 2014 in Łódź, Poland, and provides decontamination services and equipment. Iacobus also services and sells medical devices and is an authorized distributor of products from CLEAMIX, KEN instrument washers, TBT Medical, MDG Engineering srl, and CASPR Group.

Piotr Węgier, Lead Service Engineer, has worked at Iacobus since the company was founded. “We sell and service equipment for disinfection, sterilization, and biodecontamination,” says Piotr Węgier. “There were three of us, engineers with experience in servicing medical devices and systems for sterilization and biodecontamination. That is why we entered the business. Our main focus is now on healthcare, pharmaceutical production, and food production.”

Iacobus frequently carries out biodecontamination in hospital environments such as patient rooms and operating rooms. Since hospital beds are always needed, the duration of room biodecontamination is of critical importance.

“The goal in hospitals is always to perform biodecontamination as quickly as possible, because the beds must always be available,” explains Piotr Węgier. “Ideally, we would like to carry out complete biodecontamination with vaporized hydrogen peroxide. However, since time is so critical, other types of decontamination are popular. We try to educate facility managers about why processes using vaporized hydrogen peroxide are so effective, to help them choose the best procedure. There are decontamination service providers on the market that offer aerosol disinfection or ozone generators and similar systems. Unfortunately, more is promised in advertising than the actual results deliver.”

Since Iacobus provides companies with equipment that performs regular decontamination, the company also offers training on the use of vH2O2 biodecontamination equipment.

“The process used is important, especially with processes involving vaporized hydrogen peroxide,” says Piotr Węgier. “With vaporized hydrogen peroxide, you use a highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution. The liquid is converted into a gaseous form. The heat required to vaporize hydrogen peroxide is greater than that required to vaporize water. Air containing vaporized hydrogen peroxide condenses earlier. The condensate produced can have a high content of vaporized H2O2 vapor (parts per million). This can cause damage to surfaces, so caution is required.”

“This is one of the main advantages of vH2O2 decontamination with the Vaisala HPP270 sensor. The sensor provides real-time data, so you know when the condensation point has been reached.”
‑ Piotr Węgier, Iacobus Sp. z.o.o

One of the vapor generators used by Iacobus is the portable Cleamix vapor generator, which is equipped with the Vaisala HPP270 probe for vaporized hydrogen peroxide. The probes provide various parameter measurements, including hydrogen peroxide vapor, temperature, humidity (as relative saturation and relative humidity), dew point, and vapor pressure. The HPP270 probes can be integrated into a vapor generator or control system.

“I learned about the portable Cleamix vapor generator in a Vaisala webinar,” says Piotr Węgier. “The product appealed to us because of its size and design; it is the size of a suitcase. Years of feedback from our customers had taught us that the size of many vapor generators was the biggest disadvantage in this process. It is time-consuming to move a machine and all the necessary equipment from the storage location to the target area for decontamination.”

“The fact that the Cleamix vapor generator is portable was a major advantage, and we find that its performance is sufficient for most of the applications we carry out. Often, the areas being decontaminated are smaller than 100 m2. We were also very interested in the HPP270 sensor, as it offers possibilities for testing and calibrating other sensors.”

In addition to patient rooms, hospitals biodecontaminate treatment rooms and operating rooms. Because of open wounds and bodily fluids, these rooms are often high-risk areas. Today, there is growing concern worldwide about multidrug-resistant organisms, many of which are resistant to other types of cleaning, such as routine terminal cleaning. Decontamination with vaporized hydrogen peroxide in addition to terminal cleaning can significantly reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

However, operating rooms can present challenges during biodecontamination processes involving vapor fumigation. “In operating rooms, there is sometimes a problem in that the ventilation system cannot be switched off,” explains Piotr Węgier. “In one case, we had a room that had routinely been disinfected using aerosol machines. We were commissioned to carry out vH2O2 biodecontamination because the aerosol equipment was defective. During the process, we found that the ventilation system was extracting the H2O2 vapor from the room.”

“This told us that the room may not previously have been properly decontaminated, as the ventilation had probably extracted much of the aerosolized disinfectant in the air from the room. The Vaisala HPP270 sensor showed us what was happening during the decontamination through its real-time measurements and enabled us to identify the problem.”

The coronavirus pandemic introduced stricter disinfection and decontamination protocols to stop the transmission of COVID-19 between patients in hospitals. With the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as increasing antimicrobial resistance among other pathogens, optimized and effective biodecontamination will play a crucial role in public safety. Systems using vaporized hydrogen peroxide and equipped with real-time sensors can efficiently protect public areas where human health is most at risk.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have found that customers are using their vaporized hydrogen peroxide systems every day, even several times a day,” explains Piotr Węgier. “Time has always been a major challenge in decontamination, but now it is even more important to decontaminate effectively and quickly.”

“This year, we have experienced outbreaks in hospitals in which all the patients on a ward tested positive for coronavirus. In these cases, the entire ward had to be decontaminated as quickly as possible. Our portable vapor generators with the Vaisala probe have helped us make these wards safer for staff and patients.”