Electrical sterilization of Escherichia coli by electrostatic atomization

This paper describes an application of electrostatic atomization to be tested for bacterial sterilization. In atomized suspension, by utilizing electrostatic atomization, we measured the sterilization ratio in the suspension-drops of collected spray. In these experiments, when the atomization occured in threshold voltage which has started the atomization, we have evaluated how much survivability appears there. It is found that both the survival ratio and the threshold voltage are influenced by the syringe diameter. Also, the threshold voltage of suspension liquid is compared with that of the non-suspension liquid. Finally, it is found that the threshold voltage on initial atomization appeared at 4 kV at 0.2 mm ∅ of needle, 20 mm ∅ of ring electrode, and the lowest survivability is checked at 2.8% at 5.8 kV and at the same diameter as above.