Portable Decontamination System based on Cold Atmospheric Plasma and UV-C Light

This paper presents the design and testing of a portable decontamination system based on cold atmospheric plasma and UV-C light that could serve to decontaminate medical devices in remote areas or during epidemiological crises and natural disasters, as well as other items whose material composition makes them unsuitable for traditional decontamination methods used in hospitals. The efficacy of the prototype was verified through biological testing using bacteria Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, as well as microorganisms commonly found in people’s hands. Results show that with a short exposure time of 5 minutes there was a log reduction of 1.91 for Escherichia coli and larger than 6 for Bacillus subtilis, meaning a disinfectant effectiveness of $98.8 \%$ and $100 \%$, respectively. Furthermore, two DBD reactors were used in asynchronous operation-mode to reduce energy consumption without sacrificing the species generated and the ionic wind produced.