DESCRIPTION
Rice husk/hulls are the outer husk of rice that is removed during processing. Despite some industrial uses as bio
fuel and livestock litter, rice hulls are a relatively low-value side product of the rice industry. Rice hulls are used as
bedding for pet rodents and in laboratory animal facilities in India. Disinfection and sterilization of Rice-husk/Hull
items used as bedding materials for raring and breeding in animal house facilities of hospital, Academic and R&D
institution. It is imperative to sterilize the bedding material prior to use as well as decontaminate before disposal.
The animal house manure may contain high concern endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) such as steroid
hormones, rodents, such as mice and rats, can leave droppings that can spread bacteria, contaminate food, and
cause allergic reactions. Rice husk provides several benefits as animal house bedding such as:
1. Insect resistant.
2. Do not pack, therefore, do not requires much litter depth as other types of litter material- cover
larger areas for the same volume.
3. Easy to spread, cake very little, and clean out in half the normal time.
4. Aerate and mulch poultry litter, and will tend to move to the top as poultry droppings are added,
making litter condition ideal and aiding in the maintenance of health.
5. Cushion livestock against otherwise hard surfaces which results in less foot and leg troubles and in
poultry fewer breast blisters and more "A" grade poultry. ~
6. Available throughout the year. Supply is not affected by seasonal tors. Consistent quality.
7. Improved thermal insulation.
COMP~
PROVISIONAL The following specification particularly
The following specification describes the
invention
1
describes the invention and the manner in
which is to be performed
4. DESCRIPTION (Description shall start from next stage)
Description
Current methods of the Rice-husk/Hull sterilization/disinfection are either too stringent or their
disinfection efficacy is inadequate. The combination of steam at high pressure sterilizes the bedding
material, killing bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Disadvantages of autoclaving bedding include personnel
time, autoclave energy consumption and maintenance costs, and potential loss of absorptive capacity of
the bedding material.
As per GSR 343 (E) March 28, 2016 it is mandatory to pre-treat the laboratory waste, microbiological
waste, blood samples,and blood bags through disinfection or sterilization methods on-site of generation
before being transported for tertiary disposal as prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) or
National AIDs Control Organization (NACO).
The microwave is one of the recommended procedures for this pretreatment at the point of generation.
The sectors that under the preview of biomedical waste includes hospitals, nursing homes, clinics,
dispensaries, veterinary institutions, animal houses, pathological laboratories, blood banks, AYUSH
hospitals, clinical establishments, research or educational institutions, health camps, medical or surgical
camps, vaccination camps, blood donation camps, first aid rooms of schools, forensic laboratories and
research labs. Thus, the present invention has great commercial value.
Field of the invention
The present invention is a Microwave based method for the disinfection/sterilization of Rice
husk/hulls.There is an urgent need to develop appropriate and alternative technology for Rice
husk/hullssterilization and disinfection/ decontamination for the safer use and disposal. Microwave
being green and low-cost technology provides an efficient and quick solution to the Rice husk/hulls
disinfection/sterilization process. It has been shown in previous studies that Microwaves have effective
microbicidal and sporicidal properties. The traditional method of conductive heating using steam and
hot-air, or even radiation heating, is a slow and inefficient method for transferring energy into the system
since it depends on convection currents and on the thermal conductivity of the various materials that
must be penetrated. This generally results in the temperature of the vessel being higher than that of the
stuffings. In contrast, Microwave chemistry is based on the efficient heating of materials by microwave
dielectric heating effects.
Microwave dielectric heating depends on the ability of a specific material to absorb microwave energy
and convert it into heat. Since, Microwaves are electromagnetic waves that consist of an electric and
magnetic field component, substances such as water which possess a dipole moment to generate heat
when irradiated with microwaves. When exposed to microwave frequencies, the dipoles of the water
align with the applied electric field. As the field oscillates, the dipole field attempts to realign itself with
the alternating electric field and, in the process, energy is lost in the form of heat through molecular
friction and dielectric loss. Thus, microwave irradiation produces efficient internal heating (in core
volumetric heating) by direct coupling of microwave energy with the molecules within the microbes or
the medium harboring them. The present invention is designed to work in Microwave equipments with
water sprinkling mechanism. Therefore, Microwaves penetrates the Rice husk/ hulls uniformly and
generate heat directly in the inner core of the Rice husk/hulls piles. The present method of the invention
uses a Microwave based disinfection device with a water sprinkling system and a single magnetron
(OptiMaser, l.SkW, 30 lit) for disinfection/ sterilization of Rice husk/hulls.
2
Background of tt:le Invention
• At the start of disinfection cycle, Rice husk/hulls containing bags were sprinkled with water and followed
by exposure of 2.45 GHz Microwaves (lOO"C, 30 min). The average time takes for the Rice husk/hulls
disinfection/sterilization cycle in OptiMaser™ (Microwave based disinfection device) was observed to be
60 min. This exposure did not cause any changes in physical properties in the Rice husk/ hulls. A
disinfection efficacy of 9 log reduction was achieved for heat-resistant bacterial spores in the top row.
Acceptable disinfection efficacy of bacterial spores was observed in the bottom row. A self-contained
biological indicator having 106B. atrophaeus spores was used for monitoring the disinfection process.
A patent search revealed that microwave-based disinfection/sterilization of Rice husk/hulls as
mentioned in the present invention is not claimed elsewhere.
The databases searched were
-Google Patent Search
- IP Patent search
- USPTO
- Patentscope
OBJECTIVES OF INVENTION
• The main objective is to develop a method for the disinfection of infected Rice husk/ hulls.
Another objective is to develop a microwave-based method for the sterilization of Rice husk/ hulls items
used in the Academic institutions, R&D laboratories, and hospitals or the animal houses as bedding for
the animals.

CLAIMS (Not applicable for provisional specification. Claims should start with the preamble
- "1/We claim" on separate page)
What is claimed is:
1. A device for disinfecting of Rice husk/ hulls and thereof., comprising:
a) Rice husk/ hulls are fed into the Microwave bin lined with microwave compatible plastic
polybag.
b) As the first step of disinfection cycle water is sprinkled into the bin to moisten the Rice husk/
hulls polybag.
c) A 30 min exposure at 10o·c, 30 min hold time is sufficient to neutralize or kill the Bacterial
cells (Gram positive and Gram negative).
d) A 30 min exposure at 1oo·c, 30 min hold time is sufficient to neutralize or kill the Fungi and
Yeast cells.
e) A 30 min exposure at 10o•c, 30 min hold time is sufficient to neutralize or kill the heatresistant
sporesof both bacterial and fungal.
2. A microwave-based method for sterilization of Rice husk/ hulls:
a) Rice husk/ hulls could be fed into a microwave compatible plastic bag with a zip lock.
b) Rice husk/ hulls bags could be arranged in the bin rack and exposed to microwaves in
standardized Rice husk/ hulls disinfection cycle.
1) The method to claim, claims 1 and 2 wherein the microwaves used has a frequency of 2.45GHz.
The method to claim, claims 1 and 2 wherein the Rice husk/ hulls material is thermostable.