Cold plasma has been found to provide a more efficient method of sterilising air for medical procedure environments,meaning it could one day replace the surgical mask.University of Michigan engineers passed an airborne virus through nonthermal plasma inside a prototype reactor.They were able to inactivate 99.9% of the test virus from the airstream at a pig farm,rendering it virtually harmless.Krista Wigginton,U-M professor and co-author of the technique said:”The results tell us that nonthermal plasma treatment is very effective at inactivating airborne viruses.There are limited technologies for air disinfection,so this is an important finding.”Cold,or nonthermal,plasma(NTP)is partially ionized gas where the energy is stored mostly in the free electrons and the overall temperature remains low.It has potential as a decontamination approach in various areas of food,medical and healthcare sectors.Professor Clack said:”It’s very similar to a flame,it’s just it doesn’t have a high temperature.”
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