Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 6, 1994                   TAG: 9407060044
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NATURAL FORCES GO TO WORK ON WASTES AT LEWIS-GALE

Or, to be exact, an enzyme-eat-bacteria-and-viruses business.

The Salem hospital is the first site to install an on-site waste treatment unit called the BioConverter, which uses enzymes and other common food-grade additives to rid medical waste of harmful organisms.

Developed by BioConversion Technologies of Roanoke in cooperation with the Center for Innovative Technology in Northern Virginia and researchers at several Virginia universities at a cost of $1 million, the BioConverter produces no ash, toxic fumes or other harmful byproducts and should be able to process a day's worth of the hospital's waste - 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of items such as syringes and surgical gloves - in a single two- to three-hour cycle, said Clark Fuqua, BioCon vice president.

Lewis-Gale previously had relied on an incinerator to dispose of its medical waste, said hospital President Karl Miller. But the hospital's past conservation and recycling programs - including reintroducing cloth diapers into its nursery and recycling cardboard products - led to a search for a less intrusive, more responsible means of waste disposal.

The hospital became involved with the BioCon project 21/2 years ago, Miller said. Although unable to purchase the equipment outright, Lewis-Gale provided support and agreed to remove its incinerator and sign a long-term contract with BioCon in exchange for the unit.

Although he said it's impossible to anticipate all operating costs, Miller added that treating waste with the new system will be "substantially" less expensive than taking untreated waste to landfills - which often refuse to accept such waste at any cost - or incinerating it, an energy- and labor-intensive process.

While the enzyme-treatment process, called emcellulation, may sound complex, it actually uses the same enzymatic and bacterial processes that cause dead animals to decompose in the wild, said Dr. Don Cordes, head of the department of pathobiology at Virginia Tech. By recreating those processes in a controlled setting, the BioConverter is able to handle large amounts of medical waste safely.

The process begins when bags of medical waste are fed into a hopper and ground into uniform pieces to ensure equal biological treatment. The waste then drops into a processing tank, where it is mixed with water and enzymes and agitated. The sludge then is separated into its solid and liquid components.

Because the process removes all biological contamination, the resulting waste - which is reduced in volume by 80 percent - may be taken directly to a landfill or, if liquid, be funneled into the sewer system.

"The waste coming out of this unit is probably more acceptable to any landfill than our household waste," Miller said.