Method and apparatus for sterilizing infectious material

An apparatus for sterilizing infectious waste comprising:

• a pressure vessel having a vessel interior chamber and a powered mechanical agitator adapted to size reduce material within the vessel interior chamber;
• a pH neutral water source input in fluid communication with the vessel interior chamber;
• an external heat source sufficiently powered to heat the vessel interior chamber of a pH neutral water combination of tissue and other material to a temperature range of 250 to 308 degrees F.;
• a pressure control sufficiently designed to establish a pressure in the vessel interior chamber in a pressure range of 0 to 60 psig;
• said pressure vessel adapted to maintain the temperature of and pressure in the vessel interior chamber for a period in the range 0 to 4 hours to raise the actual temperature of the pH neutral water combination of tissue and other material, and maintaining the pH neutral water combination of tissue and other material at a pH of approximately 7;
• and
• a discharge port in fluid communication with the vessel interior chamber.