Hot Air Oven for Sterilization: Definition & Working Principle

Abstract

A hot air oven is a type of dry heat sterilization. Dry heat sterilization is used on equipment that cannot be wet and on material that will not melt, catch fire, or change form when exposed to high temperatures. Moist heat sterilization uses water to boil items or steam them to sterilize and doesn't take as long as dry heat sterilization. Examples of items that aren't sterilized in a hot air oven are surgical dressings, rubber items, or plastic material.

Items that are sterilized in a hot air oven include:
 Glassware (like petri dishes, flasks, pipettes, and test tubes)
 Powders (like starch, zinc oxide, and sulfadiazine)
 Materials that contain oils
 Metal equipment (like scalpels, scissors, and blades)

Hot air ovens use extremely high temperatures over several hours to destroy microorganisms and bacterial spores. The ovens use conduction to sterilize items by heating the outside surfaces of the item, which then absorbs the heat and moves it towards the center of the item.

The commonly-used temperatures and time that hot air ovens need to sterilize materials is 170 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, 160 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes, and 150 degrees Celsius for 150 minutes.

Hot air ovens sterilize equipment over long periods of time, so she has to be organized in determining what items will be sterilized at what time. This depends on when the equipment needs to be available again. Gina's manager now explains the different types of hot air ovens.

Keywords: Sterilization, Dry heat, ovens, Sterilize equipment