Memmert Universal Ovens are commonly used to perform dry heat sterilization cycles on respirators and other medical equipment.
Respirators can be sterilized using Memmert Universal Ovens as long as:
- the materials the respirators are composed of are compatible to the applied sterilization process parameters
- the bioburden of the respirators are established
- the applied sterilization process is validated*, mainly with respect to the load of respirators and the chosen loading configuration.
*For requirements for validation of dry heat sterilization processes see EN ISO 20857:2013 (Sterilization of health care products.
Dry heat. Requirements for the development, validation and routine control of a sterilization process for medical devices)
Recommendations for parameters of dry heat sterilization cycles
The well-established recommendations for parameters of dry heat sterilization cycles (= time / temperature integral) are:
- 180°C for 30 minutes according to WHO
or - 160°C for 120 minutes according to European Pharmacopoeia
Memmert Universal Ovens are able to perform these sterilization cycles as any other tailored sterilization cycle by routine (time variable, temperature up to 250°C) as a result of sterilization process validation by routine. However, with respect to the well-established parameters and in order to implement more of a safety margin we recommend using:
- 180°C for 60 minutes
or - 160°C for 240 minutes
