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TECHNOLOGY, COMPUTING, AND SIMULATION

Small Carbon Monoxide Formation in Absorbents Does Not Correlate with Small Carbon Dioxide Absorption

Erich Knolle, MD^*, Georg Heinze, PhD, and Hermann Gilly, PhD^*

Departments of *Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care (B) and Medical Computer Sciences, University of Vienna; and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental Anesthesiology and Research in Intensive Care Medicine, Vienna, Austria

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Erich Knolle, MD, Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care (B), University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. Address e-mail to erich.knolle{at}univie.ac.at

In this study we sought to determine whether an absorbent in which little carbon monoxide (CO) forms has a correspondingly small capacity to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂). Completely dried samples (600 g) of Baralyme (A), Drägersorb 800 (B), Drägersorb 800 Plus (C), Intersorb (D), Spherasorb (E), LoFloSorb (F), Superia (G), and Amsorb (H) were exposed to a flow of 0.5% (A–H; n = 4–5) and 4% isoflurane (F–H; n = 3) in pure oxygen at 5 L/min for 60 min. Downstream CO concentration, temperature, and isoflurane concentration were recorded every 60 s to calculate CO formation and isoflurane loss. The CO₂ absorption capacity of each brand was determined by passing 5.1% CO₂ in oxygen (flow, 250 mL/min) through untreated samples (30 g; n = 5) until the outlet CO₂ concentration reached 0.5%. CO formation was largest in absorbents containing potassium hydroxide (A and B) and negligible in absorbents not containing any alkali hydroxide (F–H). The outlet temperature correlated with CO formation, but the isoflurane loss did not. The duration of CO₂ absorption also did not correlate with CO formation. We conclude that absorbents that allow only very little CO formation are not necessarily poor CO₂ absorbents.

IMPLICATIONS: In an in vitrostudy, carbon dioxide (CO₂) absorption capacity and possible carbon monoxide (CO) formation were tested in different absorbent brands. Absorbents with very small CO formation are not necessarily poor CO₂ absorbents.

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