Supercritical CO2 sterilization of personal protective equipment for hospital use

In this work, an alternative sterilization approach using supercritical CO2 (scCO2) was performed for surgical gowns. These PPEs for medical use were subjected to 10 sterilization cycles using mild temperature and pressure conditions and different contents of H2O2 as additive. The efficacy of the sterilization was tested using Bacillus pumilus as the bioindicator, as this microorganism showed more resistance compared to other bioindicators used in other techniques. After the sterilization process, the functional properties of gowns were assessed in terms of water resistance, water contact angle and tensile strength of cuffs. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis were also performed to determine changes in composition and crystallinity, respectively.