Abstract
This paper reports a plasma reactive oxygen species (ROS) method for decontamination of PPE (N95 respirators and gowns) using a surface DBD source to meet the increased need of PPE due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A system is presented consisting of a mobile trailer (35 m3) along with several Dielectric barrier discharge sources installed for generating a plasma ROS level to achieve viral decontamination. The plasma ROS treated respirators were evaluated at the CDC NPPTL, and additional PPE specimens and material functionality testing were performed at Texas A&M. The effects of decontamination on the performance of respirators were tested using a modified version of the NIOSH Standard Test Procedure TEB-APR-STP-0059 to determine particulate filtration efficiency. The treated Prestige Ameritech and BYD brand N95 respirators show filtration efficiencies greater than 95% and maintain their integrity. The overall mechanical and functionality tests for plasma ROS treated PPE show no significant variations.
Highlights
There has been a global shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) due to the highly contagious nature of COVID-19 [1–4]
The breaking force of polyester slightly increases and the elongation at max force slightly decreases for the first dose of 700 ppm-min; there is no significant change of the breaking force (N) for polypropylene with ozone dose
For Proxima gowns, there is no significant change of the breaking force with doses of Ozone, while there is a slightly decrease from the control sample to ozone 1800 ppm-min irradiated sample
Summary
There has been a global shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) due to the highly contagious nature of COVID-19 [1–4]. Surface DBD [5–7] techniques have been widely investigated in the field of decontamination and bioburden reduction for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Such technologies generate a partially or fully ionized gas, UV radiation, oxygen species (O, O3, and O2 ), or oxygen-containing radicals (e.g., OH and NO ), which lead to the inactivation process of microorganism [8, 9]. Kramer et al [10] developed a portable DBD plasma system that is capable of reducing microbial loads on surfaces with a 300liter treatment chamber. Moisan et al [11] reported that the highest sporicidal effect can be achieved when spores are directly exposed to the plasma discharge. UV photons and highly reactive short-lived species (including accelerated ions and electrons, as well as uncharged particles such as excited atoms, molecules, and radicals) all participate in various inactivation
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