Sterilization of materials in the atmospheric pressure pulse corona discharge plasma

The paper presents the experimental results on the influence of the pulse corona discharge plasma in the atmospheric pressure air on the cellular culture of Eschericia coli and Bacillus subtilus spores. To excite the pulse corona discharge, a high-voltage nanosecond generator was used. The voltage pulse amplitude was 50 kV, the pulse duration and the pulse repetition rate were 4 ns and 100 Hz, respectively. Polypropylene tips having a form of hollow truncated cones were subjected to sterilization. The culture of cells or spores (∼10⁷ in number) was put on the internal surface of the cones. The reduction of the number of survivor cells of Eschericia coli by 10⁶ times was reached during 5 – 10 minutes. The total sterilization of the 80 - mm long cones infected by the Bacillus subtilus spores were reached during 30–40 minutes.