Animal carcass sterilization is an important biosafety requirement for facilities studying infectious diseases, such as biodefense, agricultural health, animal diagnostic health, and other biocontainment labs. Our alkaline hydrolysis tissue digesters are proven to destroy prions, easy to operate, and have low environmental impact.
There are two primary types of tissue digesters, one utilizes Alkaline Hydrolysis to break down the material, while the other uses Thermal and Physical Degradation and Alkaline Hydrolysis.
Alkaline Hydrolysis (Gen 2): tissue is placed in a vessel that is then filled with a mixture of water and alkali, and heated to a temperature around 160 °C (320 °F), at a high pressure. The tissue is broken down, and bones are collected while the liquid is disposed of as sanitary municipal waste.
Thermal & Physical Degradation (Gen 3): a revolutionary advancement in tissue disposal and sterilization, using agitation and heat to break down tissue (with or without alkali), minimizing water and caustic use in the process. Tissue and bones are broken down and disposed of as liquid through a sanitary sewer or collected as dry discharge for municipal waste.
Our Carcass Treatment Systems include design features which allow routine validation of the systems. We understand the importance of a properly functioning biowaste treatment system, and that our users require routine validation. It is for these reasons that all of our biowaste treatment systems have built-in validation design features to allow staff to ensure the process is effective and leads to consistent results, without making the process cumbersome or inconvenient for you.
Facility managers may consider other options such as composting, rendering, or incineration, but none offer the full benefits of a tissue digester. Each method has pro’s and con’s. An effective Carcass Treatment System should adhere to the following core principles: