Studying the fate of non-volatile organic compounds in a commercial plasma air purifier

Schmid, Stefan; Seiler, Cornelia; Gerecke, Andreas C.; Hächler, Herbert; Hilbi, Hubert; Frey, Joachim; Weidmann, Simon; Meier, Lukas; Berchtold, Christian; Zenobi, Renato (2013). Studying the fate of non-volatile organic compounds in a commercial plasma air purifier. Journal of hazardous materials, 256-257, pp. 76-83. Elsevier 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.04.021

[img] Text
1-s2.0-S0304389413002768-main.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to registered users only
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (1MB) | Request a copy

Degradation of non-volatile organic compounds-environmental toxins (methyltriclosane and phenanthrene), bovine serum albumin, as well as bioparticles (Legionella pneumophila, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus anthracis)-in a commercially available plasma air purifier based on a cold plasma was studied in detail, focusing on its efficiency and on the resulting degradation products. This system is capable of handling air flow velocities of up to 3.0m s(-1) (3200Lmin(-1)), much higher than other plasma-based reactors described in the literature, which generally are limited to air flow rates below 10Lmin(-1). Mass balance studies consistently indicated a reduction in concentration of the compounds/particles after passage through the plasma air purifier, 31% for phenanthrene, 17% for methyltriclosane, and 80% for bovine serum albumin. L. pneumophila did not survive passage through the plasma air purifier, and cell counts of aerosolized spores of B. subtilis and B. anthracis were reduced by 26- and 15-fold, depending on whether it was run at 10Hz or 50Hz, respectively. However rather than chemical degradation, deposition on the inner surfaces of the plasma air purifier occured. Our interpretation is that putative "degradation" efficiencies were largely due to electrostatic precipitation rather than to decomposition into smaller molecules.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Research Foci > Host-Pathogen Interaction
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP)
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) > Institute of Veterinary Bacteriology

UniBE Contributor:

Frey, Joachim

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

0304-3894

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Susanne Portner

Date Deposited:

22 Aug 2014 14:54

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:29

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.04.021

PubMed ID:

23669793

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.43824

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/43824

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback