Grand River Hospital (GRH) has formally activated its halogenated drug recovery (HDR) system, developed through a research initiative lead by Bill Anderson, professor of chemical engineering, and Class 1 Inc. of Cambridge. This new technology will help battle climate change as it captures waste anesthetic gases exhaled by patients undergoing surgery.
Exhaled air from surgical patients is diverted into specialized equipment in a mechanical room. The anesthetic gases are captured and stored in canisters rather than being released into the environment. The canisters are replaced regularly. Just a single 240 mL bottle of anesthetic gas released into the atmosphere is the equivalent of 1.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
“Bill Anderson and his team have given us a worldwide competitive advantage,” says Marian Marshall, vice president of operations at Class 1 Inc., in Cambridge, Ontario. “With this research we have leapfrogged five years ahead of the competition and have invented an innovative anesthetic gas recovery solution for hospitals and medical facilities worldwide."