DC Atmospheric Corona Discharge System for Sterilization and Chemical Neutralization

摘要

Our phase I research effort was meant to demonstrate that an effective technology for rapid sterilization of biological contaminants and neutralization of chemical warfare agents could be developed based on the application of an atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasma generated from a corona discharge. The effort was divided into two main technical objectives and a third task. The first technical objective was the construction and testing of the atmospheric pressure plasma discharge system. The corona discharge was generated by a pin array electrode that could be biased either DC, AC or pulsed. The second technical objective was the application of the system to rapid sterilization of simple biological contaminants and decomposition of chemical warfare agent simulants. Escherichia coli and bacillus subtilus cells were used as the biological contaminants. Diisopropylmethyl phosphonate and dimethylmethyl phosphonate were used to model chemical warfare agents. These simulants are characterized by relatively low toxicity levels and they have similar chemical structure to classes of chemical warfare agents standard gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy techniques. The task of this phase I effort was to prepare a comprehensive plan on how to make the system field portable, how to test the effectiveness of the unit against a full spectrum of chemical and biological warfare agents and how to optimize the proven system for battlefield use.