Decontamination of media by a gaseous discharge at atmospheric pressure

Summary form only given, as follows. The use of plasmas to decontaminate matter has recently received a lot of attention. The plasma generated by the one atmosphere glow discharge has been found to be an excellent sterilization agent. This is due to the production of free radicals which interact with proteins and acids within the cells of the microorganisms, causing their death. Complete fragmentation of the cells was also observed. In this paper we present new results on the efficacy of the one atmosphere glow discharge to sterilize/decontaminate various media.