Realizing high efficiency and large-area sterilization by a rotating plasma jet device

Abstract

By tilting a plasma jet and rotating 360°, a large area can be scanned and sterilized in a short time. Compared with the previous array device, this pipe has the significant advantages of high sterilization uniformity and low gas consumption. Firstly, a rotatable plasma jet device, which can control the swing and rotation of a jet pipe, is designed, and a corresponding theoretical model established to guide the experiment. Secondly, with Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli as the target bacteria, the device achieves a short sterilization time of 158 s—the minimum sterilization flow of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli is 0.8 slm and 0.6 slm, respectively. The device is compared with an array plasma sterilization device in terms of sterilization speed and gas consumption. The results show that the device is not only better than an array plasma sterilization device with respect to scanning uniformity, but also far less than the array plasma sterilization device in gas consumption of 5 slm. Therefore, the device has great potential in applications involving efficient, large-area sterilization.

Study of a Conical Plasma Jet with a Cloth-Covered Nozzle for Polymer Treatment

“…These issues may not be a problem in the case of a localized treatment, like plasma medicine, but they are serious drawbacks in the field of material processing. To remedy these disadvantages, different approaches, like target/jet manipulation [ 10 ], employing arrays of many plasma jets [ 11 ], different electrode configurations [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], high discharge frequency [ 16 , 17 ], shielding gases [ 9 , 18 ], the cooperative merging of several small plasma jets [ 19 , 20 , 21 ], and the use of a larger dielectric tubes [ 22 ] with different geometries [ 23 , 24 ] have been proposed. These methods help extend the plasma modification effect over a larger area (up to tens of cm 2 ), but all of them have drawbacks.…”

“…Nevertheless, as shown in [ 12 , 16 ], the discharge is prone to instabilities that perturb plasma plume distribution along the gas duct, thus compromising the treatment uniformity. In [ 10 ], the authors report on an especially designed mechanical system for simultaneous jet rotation and tilting, which can provide uniform decontamination over a circular area (~20 cm 2 ). Overall, the jet/target manipulation systems help achieve a larger treatment area, but they also add more process parameters and increment the device cost.…”

Plasma Electrode Dielectric Barrier Discharge: Development, Characterization and Preliminary Assessment for Large Surface Decontamination

“…By employing controlled movement patterns and multiple passes, a bigger surface can be effectively covered by the jet. For instance, in [13] the authors report on an especially designed system for simultaneous jet rotation and tilting, which provides a uniform decontamination over a circular area of ~20 cm 2 . However, in general the jet/target scanning techniques result in excessive time of treatment and require sophisticated jet/target mechanical systems, which aggregates additional process costs.…”

“…Therefore, besides the target/jet manipulation [13], other techniques were attempted to remedy the plasma jet's disadvantage of having a small treatment area. For example, to increase plasma jet diameter some works rely on using wide dielectric tubes [19] with different geometry [20,21].…”

Cold atmospheric plasma can effectively disinfect SARS‐CoV‐2 in the wastewater

“…As an advanced oxidation technology, atmospheric‐pressure plasma has the advantages of high efficiency and safety, and has attracted interest for biomedical sciences and wastewater purification. [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ] In particular, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) generated by a pulse power supply provides a low temperature while maintaining high reactivity, and has made a significant contribution to coronavirus‐contaminated surface disinfection. [ 25 , 26 ] A series of oxidation reactions and physical effects occur during the CAP treatment process, resulting in the generation of a large number of reactive species that are responsible for virus disinfection.…”