Atmospheric pressure plasma for decontamination of chem/bio warfare agents
The Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet (APPJ) is a unique, capacitively-coupled rf, nonthermal, uniform discharge operating at atmospheric pressure with a high flow of He/O{sub 2} feedgas. The APPJ generates highly reactive atomic and metastable species of oxygen and directs them onto a contaminated surface at high velocity. This may provide a much needed method of decontamination of CBW agents which, unlike traditional decon methods, is dry and nondestructive to sensitive equipment. The reactive effluent of the APPJ at 175 C has been shown to kill Bacillus globigii spores, a surrogate for Anthrax, with a D value (time to reduce viability by a factor of 10) of 4.5 sec at a standoff distance of 0.5 cm. This is 10 times faster than hot gas at the same temperature and requires 80% less energy input to achieve the same level of kill. This D value is also an order of magnitude better than achieved by other nonthermal plasma discharges, and unlike these other discharges, the APPJ provides a downstream process which can be applied to all accessible surfaces with no need for the contaminated object to fit within a chamber. Through active cooling of the electrodes, the authors have also achieved a D value of 15 sec at an effluent temperature of just 75 C, making the decontamination of personnel a definite possibility. The APPJ has also been shown to oxidize surrogates of the CW agents, Mustard and VX, and a collaborative effort is now proceeding with the actual agents at the Edgewood Chem/Bio Center (ECBC, formerly ERDEC). Efforts are now being directed towards reducing the consumption of He and increasing the working stand-off distance.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 20067629
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1999 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, Monterey, CA (US), 06/20/1999--06/24/1999; Other Information: PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: The 26th IEEE international conference on plasma science, 342 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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