About the Project

Nitrous oxide is a dangerous climate and occupational health pollutant. A large proportion of this gas is lost through leaks in poor supply systems within hospitals and, for maternity wards, is exhaled unchanged by expecting mothers in maternity wards. The Scottish Government is committed to achieve net zero emissions of this agent by 2027. One route to a greener NHS is to capture this gas and crack it down in situ so that no collection of the gas at the hospital is necessary, let alone its collection using saturated volatile canisters.

St John Hospital (SJH) has purchased such a piece of equipment called e-breathe and the Design Hopes team at Heriot-Watt University has partnered with nursing and clinical colleagues at SJH to review the design of the equipment and test its performance in terms of crack down efficiency that turn nitrous oxide into harmless nitrogen and oxygen.