Plasma-Based Surface Virus Inactivation Using Axisymmetric Dielectric Barrier Discharge

SARS-CoV-2 virus and viral RNA has been found on surfaces up to several days, depending on the type of surface and ambient environments, such as temperature and humidity. Thus, COVID19 transmission may occur through touching objects or surfaces with virus from an infected person followed by touching the mouth, nose, or eyes. Surface virus inactivation by exposure to non-thermal plasma (NTP) is investigated utilizing an axisymmetric electrohydrodynamic (EHD) reactor and the MS2 bacteriophage virus. The NPT is generated by a compact 0.75 in. diameter concentric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor to produces high concentrations of reactive species that are expelled from the reactor by air transport to impact on a coupon spiked with MS2. The effectiveness of exposure time and energy usage are studied with a fixed NTP reactor flow rate with a the NPT jet velocity of ~ 5 m/s. The virus inactivation is measured using a double agar layer plaque assay. Te NTP surface treatment offers greater than 31og10 of viral inactivation with a 60s exposure time and ~51og10 of viral inactivation with 120s of exposure time. An early prototype including the power electronics for a NTP Virus Inactivation wand is presented. The non-chemical and non-contact surface treatment ultimately offers an attractive alternative to traditional surface treatments.