Open AccessPlasma generated ozone and reactive oxygen species for point of use PPE decontamination system
Author(s) -
Min Huang,
Md Kamrul Hasan,
Kavita Rathore,
Md Abdullah Hil Baky,
John Lassalle,
Jamie Kraus,
Matthew Burnette,
Christopher Campbell,
Kunpeng Wang,
Howard Jemison,
Suresh D. Pillai,
Matt Pharr,
David Staack
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262818
Subject(s) - human decontamination , respirator , personal protective equipment , filtration (mathematics) , reactive oxygen species , covid-19 , environmental science , chemistry , materials science , waste management , medicine , composite material , biochemistry , statistics , mathematics , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , engineering
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.