FLASH
Non-Thermal Plasma for Advanced Pollution Control and Sterilization
Reviewed by Dr Rapaka Subash Chandra Bose
Non-Thermal Plasma for Advanced Pollution Control and Sterilization
Advanced pollution control technologies are crucial for protecting the environment and public health. Among several new technologies, non-thermal plasma is distinguished by its versatility and great efficiency in diverse applications by researchers from the University of Calgary.
Non-Thermal Plasma in Air Quality Management
This study investigates the efficacy of non-thermal plasma in degrading prevalent air pollutants, specifically volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as toluene, formaldehyde, ethanol, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide. Significant findings demonstrate that non-thermal plasma can disintegrate more than 90% of toluene, formaldehyde, and ethanol, whilst hydrogen sulfide experiences total conversion. Sulfur dioxide, however, attains merely a 27% reduction, highlighting locations where additional optimization could be advantageous.
Bacterial Inactivation Efficacy
In addition to chemical contaminants, non-thermal plasma exhibits significant bactericidal properties. In static feeding mode, E. coli bacteria exhibit considerable inactivation within 30 minutes, whereas continuous feeding over a 4-hour duration achieves complete deactivation, highlighting its efficacy for sterilization in environmental and health-related contexts.Non-thermal plasma system's effectiveness in degrading volatile organic compounds and inactivating bacteria.
Image credits to original authors University of Calgary, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102092
Reference
Li, W., Alagumalai, A., Li, Z. and Song, H., 2024. Non-thermal plasma technology for air pollution control and bacterial deactivation. Cell Reports Physical Science, 5(7). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102092.
Authored by Dr Srikanth Ponnada
Dr Srikanth Ponnada, PhD, MRSC
-CEO, Editor & Senior Scientific Content Author
Dr. Ponnada, is a senior researcher at VSB-Technical University-Ostrava; he previously worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Prof. Herring’s group, Chemical and Biological Engineering Department, Colorado School of Mines-U.S.A, as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur-Rajasthan. His Ph.D. research focused on “Functional Materials and Their Electrochemical Applications in Batteries and Sensors.” His research area covers Functional Materials Synthesis, Polymer electrolyte membranes, Device fabrication, conversion devices (Fuel cells and Electrolyzers), Energy storage, Electrocatalysis, Electrochemical Sensors, Artificial Intelligence, and LLM (generative AI) in energy. He has also held research positions at CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute, where he worked on lead-free perovskite-based photovoltaics and electrocatalysis, and at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, where he contributed to research on gold nanoparticle-assisted heterogeneous catalysis and alcohol oxidation reactions. Also, he is an Early Career Member at the Electrochemical Society (ECS), a Member at AIChE and a Life Member at the Indian Carbon Society (ICS), also an astronomy and astrophotography enthusiast.
