Cold Plasma Kills 99.9% of Airborne Viruses

Dangerous airborne viruses are rendered harmless on-the-fly when exposed to energetic, charged fragments of air molecules. A nonthermal plasma reactor was able to inactivate or remove from the airstream 99.9% of a test virus, with the vast majority due to inactivation. The results were achieved in a fraction of a second within a stream of air. This holds promise for many applications where sterile air supplies are needed.

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics – Inactivation of airborne viruses using a packed bed non-thermal plasma reactor

Abstract
Outbreaks of airborne infectious diseases such as measles or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can cause significant public alarm. Where ventilation systems facilitate disease transmission to humans or animals, there exists a need for control measures that provide effective protection while imposing minimal pressure differential. In the present study, viral aerosols in an airstream were subjected to non-thermal plasma (NTP) exposure within a packed-bed dielectric barrier discharge reactor. Comparisons of plaque assays before and after NTP treatment found exponentially increasing inactivation of aerosolized MS2 phage with increasing applied voltage. At 30 kV and an air flow rate of 170 standard liters per minute, a greater than 2.3-log reduction of infective virus was achieved across the reactor. This reduction represented ~2 log of the MS2 inactivated and ~0.35 log physically removed in the packed bed. Increasing the air flow rate from 170 to 330 LPM did not significantly impact virus inactivation effectiveness. Activated carbon-based ozone filters greatly reduced residual ozone, in some cases down to background levels, while adding less than 20 Pa pressure differential to the 45 Pa differential pressure across the packed bed at the flow rate of 170 standard liters per minute.

SOURCES- University of Michigan, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

7 thoughts on “Cold Plasma Kills 99.9% of Airborne Viruses”

  1. Unacceptably high fluid losses. And a bit of a fire hazard now that I think about it, as my Lagavullin is 86 proof. Although it would be a tasty way to make something go BOOM!

  2. I’ve been hearing about cold plasma as a great anti bacterial and anti viral for over 30 years. There must be some reason its not being used. This is not new information. So is it power hungry? is it dangerous ? I wonder what they are not telling us here.

  3. For internal use only, when your HVAC system does not come equipped with a non-thermal plasma generator.

  4. How do you use Single Malt Scotch in a ventilation system? I can see it as a Hand Sanitzer but it would be a total waste of good Scotch.

Comments are closed.