Removal of paper microbial contamination by atmospheric pressure DBD discharge

Abstract

In this paper the removal of the microbial contamination from paper material using the plasma treatment at atmospheric pressure is investigated. The Aspergillus niger has been chosen as a bio-indicator enabling to evaluate the effect of plasma assisted microbial inactivation. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operated at atmospheric pressure was used for the paper sterilization. The working gas (nitrogen, argon and helium), plasma exposition time and the plasma power density were varied in order to see the effect of the plasma treatment on the fungi removal. After the treatment, the microbial abatement was evaluated by the standard plate count method. This proved a positive effect of the DBD plasma treatment on fungi removal. Morphological and colorimetric changes of paper substrate after plasma treatment were also investigated.