We have long discussed the factors to an effective decontamination. They are:
- The ability of the process to eliminate the target pathogen
- The ability of the decontaminating agent to contact the pathogen
- The ability of the decontaminating agent to accumulate enough contact time
Hydrogen peroxide manufacturers have
classified hydrogen peroxide as being “poor at passive diffusion.” Studies have shown it having difficulty going
around objects within a space, effectively creating “shadow areas” where
hydrogen peroxide is either not reaching, or is reaching at lower
concentrations. It also suffers from
condensation as typically the environment being treated is below 228 F. As such, the further hydrogen peroxide
travels, the cooler it will become. As
it cools, it will start to condense and become too heavy to stay afloat in the
air, limiting the distances it can effectively treat. Chlorine dioxide being a true gas at room
temperatures will follow the gas laws which state that it will uniformly fill
up the environment that it is introduced into.
This means that the gas will reach all surfaces, and it will do so at an
even concentration.
Logic tells us that a decontaminating
agent will not be effective if it doesn’t come into contact with the pathogens. As the target environment gets larger, or
more complex with equipment and items inside of it, hydrogen peroxide has a
great chance of failure. Chlorine
dioxide however, is unaffected by temperature, size, shape, and how full an
environment is, maintaining its ability to distribute throughout the area and
contact pathogens on all surfaces throughout.
This is why chlorine dioxide is able to be trusted for the toughest
applications.
To learn more, join our webinar this Thursday at 2pm Eastern by clicking here.
