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PLASMA STERILIZATION USING LOW PRESSURE RADIO- FREQUENCY DISCHARGES IN OXYGEN GAS SEPTEMBER 2008 DEPARTMENT OF ADVANCED SYSTEMS AND CONTROL ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING SAGA UNIVERSITY VICOVEANU DRAGOS IONUT

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Page 1: PLASMA STERILIZATION USING LOW PRESSURE RADIO- …vegetative cell again through the enzimat ically triggered germinative processes. Usually, the sporulated forms are recognized as

PLASMA STERILIZATION USING LOW PRESSURE RADIO-

FREQUENCY DISCHARGES IN OXYGEN GAS

SEPTEMBER 2008

DEPARTMENT OF ADVANCED SYSTEMS AND

CONTROL ENGINEERING

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

SAGA UNIVERSITY

VICOVEANU DRAGOS IONUT

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This thesis ends a three years period of doctoral studies in the Laboratory

of Plasma Electronics and Engineering at Saga University, Japan. Obviously, I

could not have done and finish this work without the help of several important

people.

First of all, I want to express my profound gratitude to Professor Hiroharu

Fujita for the unique opportunity he has offered me to come and work in his

laboratory. I am especially grateful for the total freedom he gave me in research,

always ready to support, guide and discuss scientific, as well general aspects of

Japanese daily life.

A particular thank goes here to Associate Professor Yasunori Ohtsu for his

kindness and enthusiasm showed in the last three years, who has dedicated a lot

of his time, despite of a extremely busy schedule, for reviewing and commenting

all my entire scientific activity.

I am indebted to the other members of the referee committee Professor Kat-

sunori Shida, Professor Satoru Goto and Professor Kazuhiro Muramatsu for their

helpful criticism and availability during the redaction of this manuscript.

Next, I would like to thank to Dr. Tatsuya Misawa with whom I had many

discussions, always constructive and helpful. More than that, I want to show

ii

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my appreciation especially for the technical magic he has done in the workshop

helping me, especially when a tight time schedule was pressing.

Very special thanks go to Dr. Sebastian Popescu, my office colleague in the

first two years and a half at Saga University, for the all the things he contributed

to this important period of my life. Also, it is time here to thank for the help

and support that Dr. Popescu provided me to go through the difficult period

of integration from Romanian to Japanese culture and life style. You have been

always a good friend. At the end of these three years, I can proudly report that I

“know how to swim” on my own.

Nonetheless, as a sign of my total appreciation, I would like to dedicate this

entire work to Viorel and Maria Vicoveanu, my parents who have succeeded in the

difficult task of motivating me to stay in shape and never loose the faith, providing

me unconditional support and love. Also, to my brother Bogdan, it is time now

to dedicate this thesis for encouraging me all these years, especially when dark

clouds were above me.

iii

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List of Symbols

A surface of the glass slide [mm2]

Aeff effective contaminated area of the glass slide [mm2]

AV average number of colonies

CFU colony forming units

D decimal reduction values [min]

DF dilution factor

Di decimal reduction factor due to the action of the i inactivation agent [min]

Dh decimal inactivation agent due to the heat action [min]

Dh+ν decimal reduction value due to the actions of heat and photons [min]

Dh+ν+p

decimal reduction value due to the plasma action [min]

Dν decimal inactivation agent due to the photon action [min]

Dp decimal reduction value due to the plasma particles action [min]

e electron charge 1.602× 10−19 C

e logarithm natural base

E energy [W]

fp pulse frequency [Hz]

k inactivation rate [min−1]

ki inactivation rate due to the action of the i inactivation agent [min−1]

I intensity of the light plasma emission [arb. unit]

iv

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Iis ion saturation current [µA]

< I > time averaged emission of the light plasma emission [arb. unit]

< Iis > time averaged value of the ion saturation current [A]

M ion mass [kg]

n0 mean number of spores per effective contaminated areea

ne plasma density [m−3]

N number of the individuals within a microorganisms population

N0 initial number of the individuals within a microorganisms population

N(t) number of surviving microorganisms at the time t

N(t+∆t) number of surviving microorganisms at the time t+∆t

P radio-frequency power [W]

P cweff effective continuous wave injected RF power [W]

P ppeff effective pulsed injected RF power [W]

P pulse RF power injected during the pulse [W]

P pulseeff effective RF power injected during the pulse [W]

r microorganisms inactivation speed [units×min−1]

S probe collection surface [mm2]

t time [min]

toff power off time period [min]

ton power on time period [min]

T period [min]

Te electron temperature [eV]v

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V electrical potential [V]

α decay coefficient

α fraction of the wetted glass slide surface

α duty cycle

∆N number of inactivated microorganisms in the interval t+∆t

τ pulse duration interval [min]

vi

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CONTENTS

1 PRINCIPLES OF SURFACE DISINFECTION AND STERILIZATION 1

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 Disinfection and sterilization methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.2.1 Sterilization by heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.2.2 Sterilization by electromagnetic radiation . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.2.3 Sterilization by chemical agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.2.4 Sterilization by particle bombardment . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.2.5 Sterilization by plasma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.2.5.1 Plasma-"based" sterilizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.2.5.2 Plasma sterilizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1.3 Mechanisms of plasma sterilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

1.3.1 Mechanisms of plasma sterilization at atmospheric pressure 14

1.3.2 Mechanisms of plasma sterilization at low pressure . . . . 15

1.3.3 Topical issues in sterilization research . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

1.4 Objective and structure of this thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP AND TECHNIQUES USED IN PLASMA

STERILIZATION 23

2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.2 Experimental set-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

vii

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2.3 Microbiological diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

2.3.1 Theoretical description of bacteria inactivation . . . . . . . 27

2.3.2 Experimental technique used for bacteria inactivation . . . 32

2.3.2.1 Microorganisms used for testing procedures . . . 32

2.3.2.2 Samples preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2.3.2.3 Determination of viable spores . . . . . . . . . . 34

2.4 Plasma diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

2.4.1 Measurement of electrical properties . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

2.4.2 Measurement of the plasma light emission . . . . . . . . . 38

3 RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF PLASMA INACTIVATION AGENTS ON

BACTERIAL SPORES IN CONTINUOUS WAVE RF OXYGEN DIS-

CHARGES 41

3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3.2 Experimental procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

3.3 Experimental results and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

3.3.1 Influence of heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

3.3.2 Influence of optical radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

3.3.3 Influence of plasma particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

3.4 Initial stage of plasma treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

3.5 Power sensitivity of spore inactivation kinetics . . . . . . . . . . . 64

3.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

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4 EFFECTS OF LOWTEMPERATURE PULSED PLASMADISCHARGE

ON BACTERIAL SPORES INACTIVATION 71

4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

4.2 Experimental procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

4.2.1 Pulse characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

4.2.2 Injected RF power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

4.3 Experimental results and discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

4.3.1 Temperature evolution of the bacteria holder . . . . . . . . 78

4.3.2 Temporal dynamics of bacterial population . . . . . . . . . 84

4.3.3 Evolution of light emission intensity with pulse characteristics 90

4.3.4 Evolution of plasma density with pulse characteristics . . . 96

4.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

5 CONCLUSIONS 103

5.1 Unsolved problems and future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

ix

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CHAPTER 1

PRINCIPLES OF SURFACE DISINFECTION

AND STERILIZATION

1.1 Introduction

The development of sterilization concepts has a long history starting from the

end of 19th century when the first rules for controlling the spreading of pathogen

agents were established [1]. Boiling of the medical instruments and the first steam

sterilizer has been introduced in the 18800s [1, 2]. Not much latter, the concept

of non-thermal sterilization method for food, drinks and materials preservation

has gained more attention. Therefore, chemical gas and liquid disinfectants were

adopted as low temperature alternatives. The most common chemical sterilant,

still intensively used nowadays, is the ethylene oxide gas which has been introduced

in hospitals and medical industry starting with 1940. [1, 3].

The application area for pathogens destruction has not been covered only by

thermal and chemical methods. The decontamination potential of the electromag-

netic radiation as for example gamma or X rays irradiation was tested starting

with the second half of the last century [1]. Not much latter, electrical gas dis-

charges were introduced as an original approach suitable for microbial inactivation

1

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and intuited to bring new important benefits in this area.

Nowadays, due to the continuous growth of the interest for finding more robust

and effective sterilization techniques, the conceptual basis of this research topic

are much better established. Altogether, a number of rules for contaminated

medical pieces with pathological microorganisms have been imposed, mostly of

them derived from daily practice and limitations of the commonly used techniques.

Hence, standardized procedures and methods have come as a consequence and

accepted as sterilization and disinfection principles [4-6].

Definition 1 Cleaning is the act of removal of undesirable elements from an

object.

These undesirable elements can be any kind of impurities. If the impurities are

microorganisms (microscopic life-form with dimension of few microns) the object

is said to be, in medical terms, as infected [7, 8]. Consequently, the cleaning of

such an object is called disinfection. However, during the disinfection process the

microorganisms are simply removed and let alive, as can be in the case of cleaning,

but inactivated [7-9].

Definition 2 Inactivation of a microorganism is the process of stopping its nat-

ural activity by function-altering or destruction (i.e., killing).

Under these circumstances, a clear definition of disinfection can be given:

2

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Definition 3 Disinfection is the process of inactivation of a fraction of the total

microorganisms existing on the treated object.

If the desired effect is the total disinfection of an object, then the process will

be called sterilization [7, 8, 10]. Under these terms, the sterilization can be defined

under two different aspects: a theoretical, as well as a practical (operational) one.

Definition 4 (Theoretical) Sterilization is the process of inactivation of all the

microorganisms existent on the treated object.

In practice, the assessment of the effectiveness of an inactivation experiment

is realized by counting the surviving microorganisms [10-12]. This experimental

procedure makes use of the following operational definitions:

Definition 5 Disinfection is the process at the end of which the number of

surviving microorganisms is at least one.

Definition 6 Sterilization is the process at the end of which the number of

surviving microorganisms is less than one.

These definitions are also illustrated by the schematically representation from

the Fig. 1.1.

Usually, the standard number of microorganisms infecting an object is chosen

to be 106 [13-18]. Then, in accord with the above definitions, at the end of

the experiment, the treated object (surface) is said to be "sterilized" if the final

3

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Figure 1.1: Schematic representation of disinfection and sterilization operative

definitions. The number of microorganisms is represented by N , where N0 is

the initial number of microorganisms on the treated object at the beginning of

disinfection or/and sterilization process.

number of surviving microorganisms is less than 10−6 of their initial number [17,

18]. With other words, the sterilization is achieved if the employed technique

is able to decrease the number of viable microorganisms with 6 (six) orders of

magnitude.

For microbial decontamination processes, two particular microorganism struc-

tures have a major importance: the bacterial vegetative state and its sporu-

lated form [15, 17-26]. The vegetative or the natural living state is the bacterial

form which can be found in the natural habitat. When the natural habitat has no

nourishment resources then the vegetative cell will produce, through the sporu-

lation process, one spore which represents a defensive and resistant structural

adaptation of bacterium to hard living conditions, as shown in Fig. 1.2 [15, 21-

26]. Hence, it is believed that the spore formation is a mechanism of bacterial

4

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Spore coat formation

Germination

Spore coat

Sporulation

Vegetative cell

Figure 1.2: Illustration of the main phases of the sporulation-germination cycle.

After [27].

survival. When the life conditions allow the sporulated form germinate back into

vegetative cell again through the enzimatically triggered germinative processes.

Usually, the sporulated forms are recognized as very hard to kill microorganisms.

Their resistance is due to the protection systems developed during the sporulation

process [23, 25, 26].

1.2 Disinfection and sterilization methods

The decontamination (i.e., disinfection or sterilization) methods can be di-

vided by the type of the killing agent used in the treatment procedures. When

the inactivation agent come into direct contact with the contaminants, the suc-

5

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Table 1.1: Common disinfection and sterilization methods.

Sterilization Method The killing agent

Thermal method pressured steam heat, dry heat

Electromagnetic radiationultraviolet photons, gamma rays,

X rays, microwaves, electric fields

Chemical method

ethylene oxide gas, formaldehyde gas, ozone,

glutaraldehyde, peracetic acid, chlorine dioxide,

hydrogen peroxide, high pressure carbon dioxide

Particle bombardment method particle beams (E-beams, ion and neutral beams)

Plasma method heat, optical radiation, plasma particles

cess of the procedures depends in principal on two important factors: the type of

the microorganisms and the nature of the killing agents [8]. A summary of these

techniques used in daily medical practice is presented in Table 1.1.

1.2.1 Sterilization by heat

Heat is the physical agent mostly used for sterilization and disinfection in

moist and dry heat forms [8, 25, 28, 29]. An additional technique to the existing

ones is the pyrolysis [30]. The effectiveness of these methods depends on the

6

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treatment time, temperature, and pressure (for the steam case).

The devices using heat as an inactivation agent are the autoclave and the

dry heat oven. The autoclave is using a high pressure steam circulating at a

temperature of 121 ◦C. The time required for a full treatment cycle is varying

from 20 minutes for unwrapped instruments to 30 minutes for wrapped ones. On

the other hand a more easy to sterilize sequence, when the composition of the

materials allows, is given by the dry heat. This is usually circulated by convection

through the oven chamber in order to touch all the surfaces of the instruments.

The standard temperatures are varying from 160 ◦C to 170 ◦C. The treatment

time is between 2 and 4 hours including the cooling time [31-34].

The major disadvantages of the heat sterilization methods come from the high

temperatures used for material processing or the high cooling periods needed after

treatment. The advantages rely on the simplicity of the method and the lack of

chemical contaminants [33, 34].

1.2.2 Sterilization by electromagnetic radiation

Photons from the ultraviolet (UV)-with wavelengths from 200 nm to 380 nm,

and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV)-with wavelengths less than 200 nm have been in-

tensively used as sterilization and disinfection agents in the past. It is believed

that the most effective wavelengths interval of the light spectrum for microorgan-

isms inactivation is between 220 nm and 285 nm [25, 35, 36]. At these wavelengths

7

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the radiation energy is resonantly absorbed by the nucleic acids and proteins inside

of the bacteria [15, 16, 35, 36]. However, the applications employing UV irradi-

ation are somehow limited for surfaces disinfection. Instruments with complex

geometry can have shielded regions and a direct contact with the photons cannot

be fully sterilized [15, 37]. In some practical situations, the effectiveness of UV

light is improved combining the optical radiation with microwaves [38]. Usually,

low pressure gas discharges (e.g., mercury vapor bulbs) are the most effective UV

light sources [35-38].

Ionizing rays are considered the most effective known sterilization method

[39-41]. The advantages of this technique are represented by the low treatment

temperature and high volume penetrability of the materials to be treated. The

inactivation agents are beta particle, gamma and soft X-rays. The ionizing par-

ticles are generated with the help of linear accelerators and radioactive isotopes

sources. For irradiation in the healthcare facilities, sources of Co60 at 4 K are

commonly used. The treatment time is proved to be a great disadvantage, the

exposure being 10 to 20 hours long. Other limitations of the methods are the high

installation prices and the bulk alteration of some materials [40, 41].

1.2.3 Sterilization by chemical agents

When medical instruments sensitive to heat require low treatment tempera-

ture, chemical compounds are generally used for sterilization in gas and liquid

8

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states. In the Table 1.1 are presented the most commonly used chemisterilants

[3, 4, 42, 43]. Their effectiveness depends essentially on the concentration of the

reactive agent. Usually, this is interfering with microorganisms proteins or lipids

creating also local membrane perforations. In the same time, a powerful damag-

ing action is directed to the DNA’s structure through degradative and oxidative

processes. Altogether these causes lead to the cell’s death [3].

1.2.4 Sterilization by particle bombardment

Sterilization by particle bombardment method usually involves beams of neu-

trals or charged species. The most known killing agent is the beam of electrons

having energies ranging from 3 MeV to 12 MeV [44-47]. This technology is not

entirely new. Pioneering work in electron beam (E-beam) processing has began in

the 19300s. E-beam sterilization method was commercialized in the 19500s. The

procedure is similar to gamma rays irradiation in that it alters various chemical

and molecular bonds of the contaminants through particles impact with objects

to be sterilized [39-41, 44-46].

1.2.5 Sterilization by plasma

The use of plasmas offers an original and more practical approach for steriliza-

tion because of their properties [15-18]. The method basically consists in exposing

the contaminated objects or surfaces to the plasma action. They are rich produc-

9

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ers of heat, optical radiation and energetic charged or neutral particles, which

have showed sterilization and disinfection capabilities of a very wide spectrum

of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria including spores, biofilm-forming

microorganisms, yeasts, mycobacteriums, and viruses [15-18, 48-112]. More than

that, plasmas have presented a number of important characteristics appreciated in

medical fields (e.g., effective in blood coagulation, biocompatibility inducing the

growth of tissues by stimulation of the genomic response, tissue ablations, etc.)

besides its capacity to have an effective microbial action [77, 88, 94, 103]. How-

ever, for plasma to become a veritable sterilization solution, it is desirable also to

achieve protein destruction and removal [88]. While the proteins destruction is a

new type of investigation and needs more time to be studied, the prospect of a

plasma-based medical sterilization technology has advanced bases.

1.2.5.1 Plasma-"based" sterilizers

Two sterilizers (with market names of SterradR°and PlazlyteTM) using gas

plasma discharges have been developed and commercialized in medical healthcare

facilities [48-50]. In fact, they are chemical systems using an electrical discharge

for decomposition of the main chemisterilant agent (i.e., hydrogen peroxide or

peracetic acid) into safe chemically non-reactive parts, here the plasma having just

a secondary role. Therefore, their names as plasma sterilizers are improperly used

[51-54]. Real plasma sterilizers are those in which the killing agents, generated

10

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only by the electrical discharge, have the leading inactivation role [57-112].

Nonetheless, the plasma-"based" sterilization has its important role in deter-

mining the explosion of scientific research in real plasma sterilization systems,

along with several other advantages. These can be synthesized in the low tem-

perature of the processing cycle and the reduced treatment times (up to 3 hours).

Overall, the use of such devices has improved the sterilization of thermosensitive

category of the medical materials. Therefore, their efficiency and the effects on

various materials have been closely monitored in many studies. On the other

hand, the main concerning issue related to their operation is the use of powerful

chemicals in the beginning of the treatment [50, 53, 54]. Despite of its high ef-

ficiency to sterilize endoscopic instruments, PlazlyteTM has presented difficulties

during sterilization of the ophthalmic instruments. It is worth to mention also

that the PlazlyteTM system was retreated from the market.

1.2.5.2 Plasma sterilizers

The plasma sterilizers contains direct current (DC), alternative current (AC),

radio frequency (RF) and microwave (MW) driven discharges produced at low,

medium and high to atmospheric pressures. They were developed and tested for

their potential as alternatives technologies to the existing conventional sterilization

techniques. A schematic classification of low to atmospheric pressure plasma

sources used for microbial inactivation is given in the Table 1.2

11

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Table 1.2: Main plasma sources used for microorganism inactivation

Low Pressure Atmospheric Pressure

Direct Current (DC) sources

Radio Frequency (RF) sources

Microwave (MW) sources

AC/DC glows, Coronas

Dielectric Barrier Discharges (DBD)

RF/MW torches

The year 1968 came with the first patented device which used an electrical

discharge for medical tools sterilization [113]. The plasma was produced to a pres-

sure of 1 Torr using an inert gas and was sustained by an RF (13.56 MHz) electric

power applied to a coil located outside the chamber. This first attempt has an

historical importance in the sterilization by plasma field since the first mechanism

of microorganisms destruction by an electrical discharge has been advanced in the

same time. In this case the plasma ensured thermal destruction of the pathogen

agents.

A substantial progress of understanding the plasma killing mechanisms started

with the early of 800s when a series of hypotheses have began to be published.

Studies regarding the importance of the gas mixtures within discharges were

pointed out the effectiveness of the O2-based plasmas [58]. Due to the action

of the atomic oxygen, which is a highly chemical reactive species, these discharges

showed strong biocidal effects. Besides O atoms, other ground and excited species

12

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like ozone or hydroxyl radical can be produced and play in the same time a major

role in neutralization of bacteria. An increase efficacy also showed the addition

of small halogens volumes such as chlorine, bromine and iodine within the steril-

ization chambers. It was concluded that oxygen mixtures containing gases (e.g.,

CO2, O2, N2, H2O vapors, etc.) are much more effective than others (e.g., inert

gases) [17].

A new step towards a better understanding of sterilization process came when

the ultraviolet emission, inherent in plasmas, was taken into account as an in-

activation agent, especially for its role played in the direct attack against DNA

molecules [15-18, 70]. Until then, in low pressure plasmas, the main mechanism it

was believed to be the incineration and oxidation of the biological structures [55,

58].

The first model of the sterilization process came 1993, based on a thermody-

namic approach revealing some insights on the influence of the substrate tempera-

ture on the oxidation rate of microorganisms [17]. The kinetics of adsorption and

desorption processes which lead to a better destruction rate were analyzed. It was

concluded that the free radicals present in the discharge are reacting with the cell

walls, enzymes and nucleic acids destroying the vital parts of the microorganisms.

However, this simplification of the inactivation mechanisms did not take into ac-

count the UV radiation. A more extensive physical description of the sterilization

process is advanced few years latter, which takes into account the dynamics of

13

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microorganism population as a response to plasma action [81].

1.3 Mechanisms of plasma sterilization

Even if it is known that plasma is acting on bacteria with all its three killing

agents (i.e., heat, optical radiation and plasma particles), the precise inactivation

mechanism is still not known, many suppositions being advanced in the last years

[80-90]. Some of them were reviewed recently and they are summarized as it fol-

lows: microincineration, UV photons direct impact on the DNA strands, erosion

of the microorganism structure atom by atom through etching and synergistic

effects involving the UV light, pure chemical etching, accumulation of charged

particles on the external membrane of microorganisms and sputtering of the mi-

croorganisms membrane materials by energetic charged particles [57, 60-87].

1.3.1 Mechanisms of plasma sterilization at atmospheric

pressure

An acceptable satisfactory sterilization mechanism still seems to be a subject

of controversy for plasmas produced at atmospheric pressure [57, 63, 68, 86, 91,

92]. Majority of the scientists are commonly believe that reactive plasma species,

such as ground and excited state oxygen atoms, hydroxyl radicals, ozone, and

nitride oxides, are important, whilst UV photons seems to play a relatively minor

role [57, 86, 107-112]. With this purpose, the concentration of oxidative products

14

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inside the spores was measured trying to confirm these results. On the other

hand, the role of optical radiation in atmospheric pressure discharges was recently

confirmed by other scientists and it was shown that UV photons lead the microbial

inactivation process [57].

1.3.2 Mechanisms of plasma sterilization at low pressure

At low pressure, a detailed sterilization mechanism has been developed taking

into account the microorganism survival curves (i.e., the number of microorgan-

isms as a function of the treatment time) [17, 18, 70-75, 81]. The physical processes

responsible for the observed temporal dynamics of the bacteria population were

found to be carried out mainly by UV photons and radical species created in

plasma. The last ones are getting adsorbed on the microorganism surface in such

a way that volatile compounds are formed. Such an erosion mechanism of sur-

faces is known as etching [61, 82-84]. Following the steps of the survival curve,

the inactivation process takes place in three phases detailed below:

1. In the first phase the destruction of microorganism genetic material (i.e.,

DNA) by UV photons dominates the inactivation process as it is shown in

Fig 1.3;

2. The erosion of the microorganism through etching takes place in the sec-

ond phase. Here, the reactive species are adsorbed on the microorganisms

surface and start chemical reactions (chemical etching) forming compounds

15

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UV Photon

Before After

DNA

Figure 1.3: Destruction of the DNA molecule by photon direct impact.

as CO2, CO and H2O which are harmless. In parallel, a photo-desorption

process takes place where UV photons are breaking chemical bonds overall

contributing to the etch rates. More than this, it is believed that the photons

are acting synergistically with reactive species, accelerating the elimination

rate of microorganism organic materials [17, 18, 57, 64, 65]. The schematic

representation of the physical processes which take place in this phase is

shown in Fig. 1.4;

3. The last phase starts when the surface of microorganisms has been eroded

enough that the UV photons can finally kill the last survivals leading to

total inactivation of the entire population.

16

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Figure 1.4: Schematic representation of the erosion process meaning photodes-

orption by photons impact and the synergetic action of reactive species and UV

photons translated into UV-induced etching. After [81].

1.3.3 Topical issues in sterilization research

As a sterilization tool, plasma dominates the existent classical methods with

its impressive properties. Unfortunately, the application of plasmas in industry

and commerce requires several issues to be solved. These have a starting point

coming of the controversies which still dominate the mechanisms of microorganism

inactivation and of various technological difficulties meet in the processing of the

whole range of medical instruments. For example, there have been many attempts

17

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to sterilize medical tools, but their various internal lumens or hollow parts still

fails [106]. The difficulties it seems to arise of the weak possibility to produce

an uniform discharge along small but long diameter tubes or pipes. Another

problem is the treatment temperature, especially when the samples or instruments

are closed to the plasma production region. Within the discharge itself the gas

temperature can reach few hundreds Celsius degrees, therefore, the decrease of

surfaces heating is important when heat sensitive materials are processed [70, 84].

Moreover, the sterilization itself needs a good understanding of the physical

and biochemical complex phenomena which occur during this process. Until now,

the vast majority of the studies have pointed out the importance of UV photons or

reactive neutral species, usually abundant in plasma discharges than other species.

More than this, it is emphasized their synergic action on the microbial extinction

[17, 57, 60, 81].

Regardless of the tentative decontamination mechanisms already proposed, it

is clear that plasma acts on bacteria with all its three inactivation agents: heat,

optical radiation, and plasma particles [70]. In the last years, there have been a

few attempts to assess the relative effectiveness of these inactivation agents in low

pressure and atmospheric pressure discharges. However, the number of studies on

this topic is still very small, and the reported obtained results are highly different.

Therefore, our research has a purpose to rule out controversies related to the role

of each plasma inactivation agent in the process of microorganisms inactivation.

18

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1.4 Objective and structure of this thesis

The aim of this thesis was to understand, by following a rigorous experimental

approach, some of the physical phenomena involved in the disinfection or/and

sterilization processes of the bacterial spores with inactivation agents produced

within a low pressure RF discharge. Much of the work has been carried out to

establish the relative effects of each killing agent generated by plasma [70-75].

From this point of view, the discrimination of the role of different inactivation

agents is challenging, because it is difficult to isolate the effect of one particular

agent by suppressing the production of others.

Regarding the heat effects on the contaminated samples the conditions to op-

erate the discharge were changed. The plasma was pulsed to bring the advantage

of a much low heat absorbed by the treated objects. Moreover, how the kinet-

ics of microorganisms inactivation is affected by pulsed plasma operation mode

(i.e., pulse characteristics) has not yet been systematically studied. Therefore, the

present thesis covers in its second part the aspects of the sterilization with pulsed

plasma. It is necessary to mention that, for microbiological testing procedures,

Bacillus subtilis spores (Bss) were used.

The thesis is organized as it follows:

Chapter 2 contains the description of the experimental RF plasma reactor,

including the treatment chamber geometry and the electrical circuitry used to

accomplish the experimental investigations. Microbiological procedures are pre-

19

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sented by both theoretical and experimental approaches. Electrical and optical

plasma diagnostics are described at the end of the chapter.

In Chapter 3, the investigation of the competitive effects of plasma killing

agents is conducted. The inactivation of a population of Bss is analyzed in a low

pressure high density RF inductively coupled oxygen plasma (ICP). The experi-

ments were especially designed to allow the discrimination of the influence of each

inactivation agents on bacteria samples. The decimal reduction values (D-values),

characteristic for the action on the spores of heat, optical radiation and plasma

particles, respectively, were estimated for different RF injected powers.

Based on the obtained experimental results the injected RF power sensitivity

of the spore inactivation kinetics was also established, by determining and using

the Z-value corresponding to the employed inactivation method.

In Chapter 4, the effects of pulsed plasma on the Bss inactivation kinetics

are evaluated. The inactivation rates were calculated from the bacteria survival

curves and their dependencies on the pulse characteristics (i.e., pulse frequency

and duty cycle) were compared with those of the plasma parameters. The low

temperature treatment of the contaminated samples surfaces is emphasized as a

major advantage of pulsed discharges.

Chapter 5 summarizes the results obtained in the present thesis and outlines

the future research of the author on this topic.

The relations existent among different parts of the present research are pre-

20

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sented in the flow chart from Fig. 1.5.

21

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Research objectives

Study of the effects of plasma inactivation agents on bacterial spores in oxygen RF continuous wave and pulsed wave discharges

HEAT OPTICAL RADIATION

PLASMA PARTICLES

1. Relative influence of plasma inactivation agents on bacterial spores in continuous wave RF oxygen discharges

Plasma Configuration and Experimental Methods

Microbiological diagnostics and Plasma diagnostics

Low treatment temperature

PlasmaRadicals

Plasma Charged Particles

Pulsed Plasma

2. Effects of low temperature pulsed plasma discharges on bacterial spores inactivation

Pulse characteristics(pulse frequency and duty cycle)

Plasma properties Inactivation effectiveness (inactivation rates)

Plasma Sterilization Using Low Pressure RF Discharges with Oxygen Gas

Figure 1.5: Flow chart of the present thesis.

22

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CHAPTER 2

EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP AND

TECHNIQUES USED IN PLASMA

STERILIZATION

2.1 Introduction

The experiments described in the present thesis have been conducted on an

inductively coupled plasma (ICP) device constructed in the laboratory of Electri-

cal and Electronic Engineering, at Saga University [70-75]. Basically, it consists

of discharge chamber with an internal single loop antenna to which the RF power

is coupled. The device is similar with other ICP with internal antenna described

someplace else [97]. The whole system permits to produce plasmas with prop-

erties comparable with ones that are used for surface processing and allow the

comparison of the results with those found by other research groups [17, 18, 57].

In this chapter, the RF ICP device and techniques used in plasma sterilization

are described. The section 2.2 concerns about the experimental set-up used for

plasma treatments. Microbiological diagnostics used to investigate the dynamics

of the microorganisms population is covered by both theoretical and experimental

23

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Figure 2.1: Experimental set-up. MB-matching box. PG-pulse generator. RF-

radio frequency power supply. LP-Langmuir probe. SH-spores holder. SS-

spores sample. T-thermocouple. LA-lens anssembly. OF-optical fiber. M-

monochromator. C-controller. O-oscilloscope.

approaches in the section 2.3. Finally, the plasma electrical and optical diagnostics

is detailed in the section 2.4.

2.2 Experimental set-up

The microorganism treatment was carried out in an ICP device with a cylindri-

cal stainless-steel vacuum vessel. The schematic view of the experimental arrange-

24

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O

RF

PG

MB

VP

DC

BG

GT LP

SH

to pumps

Figure 2.2: Photographic view of plasma experimental set-up. O-oscilloscope.

MB-matching box. VP-voltage probe. RF-radio frequency source. GT-gas tank.

SH-spores holder. LP-Langmuir probe. DC-discharge chamber. BG-baratron

gauge.

ment is presented in Fig. 2.1. The height of the reactor is 150 mm and the diameter

is 300 mm. The upper part of the vessel can be lifted, giving access to the spore

holder (SH in Fig. 2.1). The detailed picture of the experimental device can be

seen in the Fig. 2.2

The plasma diagnosis and observation was realized through a few plexiglas

ports and one quartz window. The RF power was injected into the plasma by

the help of the horizontal, internal ring antenna, 200 mm in diameter, made of a

25

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Figure 2.3: Electronic circuit of the matching box.

stainless-steel tube, and covered with an electrical insulator.

The antenna was located in the center of the chamber, and was connected,

through a manual matching box unit (MB in Fig. 2.1), to a 13.56 MHz RF power

supply. The detailed view of the matching network can be seen in Fig. 2.3. The

input power to plasma can be optimized by acting on the two variable condensers

(Fig. 2.3) in order to minimize the RF power loses in the system. Therefore, the

power injected in the system can be found subtracting the reflected power from

the incident power (i.e., the power from the output of the RF source). These can

be visualized on the main electronic front panels of the V TC−0HI10 model B023

RF source.

The support for the spore sample was a horizontal stainless steel Petri dish, 8

cm in diameter, situated at 3.5 cm below the horizontal plane of the antenna, on

the vertical symmetry axis of the reactor. During the experiments this holder was

26

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electrically floating. Its temperature was monitored with a thermocouple probe

connected to a digital thermometer.

The reactor was vacuumed to a base pressure below 2.67× 10−3 Pa (2× 10−5

Torr) by a ULV AC Japan Ltd. (model Y H − 500A) high vacuum system, and

pure O2 was introduced to ensure a working pressure of 2 Pa (15 mTorr). The

absolute gas pressure was monitored during the plasma discharge by a Baratron

manometer and the base pressure was measured by an ion gauge.

2.3 Microbiological diagnostics

The microbiological diagnostics undertakes with a review on the theoretical

aspect of the inactivation process and tend to complete the definitions presented

in the introductory part of the thesis. The methodology and materials needed

for an accurate diagnostic and efficient detection of the bacteria inactivation are

closing this section.

2.3.1 Theoretical description of bacteria inactivation

The inactivation of a microorganism population is a statistical process [24,

25]. That is, it is impossible to predict when any of the microorganisms will die,

knowing that the initial population N0 contains a sufficiently big number of indi-

viduals such that the statistical methods to be applicable (i.e., N0 is large enough

that the statistical variation in the inactivation rate will average out). Under

27

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such circumstances, the inactivation process must be mathematically described in

terms of probability of inactivation per unit time.

If at the time t after the beginning of the inactivation process the number

of still surviving microorganisms is N(t), and after a short time interval ∆t, the

number is N(t+∆t), then the number of bacteria that died in the time ∆t is

∆N = N(t)−N(t+∆t). (2.1)

Consequently, the decrease of the number of surviving bacteria during ∆t will be

−∆N.

It is experimentally observed that for a given initial population of microorgan-

isms, over short time intervals ∆t the speed of bacteria inactivation is constant

r = lim∆t→0

N(t)−N(t+∆t)

∆t= cst. (2.2)

For large bacteria population and very short inactivation times, the quantity N

can be treated as a continuous one, from mathematical point of view. Expanding

N(t+∆t) in Taylor series and keeping only the linear terms, Eq. (2.2) becomes:

r = lim∆t→0

N(t)− [N(t) + dNdt∆t+ ...]

∆t∼= −dN

dt. (2.3)

Equation (2.3) shows that, if in dt the number of inactivated bacteria is dN , then

in 2dt the number of inactivated bacteria will be 2dN .

Another experimental observation is that the number of inactivated bacteria

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during a short time interval dt is proportional with the bacteria population. This

is, if dN bacteria dies during a time dt from an initial population of N bacteria,

then with 2N bacteria, the number of inactivations in the same time interval dt

will be 2dN . This means that, for short time intervals, bacteria die independently

of each other, since the inactivation rate is not influenced by the proximity of

one bacterium to others. Given the above observation, the inactivation speed r,

defined by Eq. (2.2), can be written as

r = α ·N, (2.4)

where the proportionality constant α is called the decay coefficient of the bacteria

population. The quantity α is thus independent of t and N , and depends only on

the type of bacteria and on the type of the inactivation agent used for sterilization.

Introducing Eq .(2.4) in (2.3), the variation rate of the viable bacteria with

time can be expressed by the following differential equation

dN

dt= −α ·N. (2.5)

Separating the variables, integrating, and using the initial condition

N(t = 0) = N0, (2.6)

the evolution of the number N of viable microorganisms ones, and with the treat-

29

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ment time t is

N = N0e−αt ≡ N0 × 10−kt, (2.7)

where k is the inactivation rate. The relationship between k and α is straightfor-

ward:

k = α log10 e ' 0.434α (2.8)

The transformation from the natural logarithm to the decimal one has also a

practical advantage. It easily shows the number of bacteria decades at any time

t.

The inverse of the inactivation rate, measured under isothermal conditions,

is called decimal reduction value or, on short, D-value, and it represents the time

needed for the reduction with 90% (i.e., 10 times or 1 log) of the microorganisms

population

D =1

k. (2.9)

If the counted population of bacteria is represented semilogarithmically for

different treatment times, then, according to Eq. (2.7), the slope of the obtained

regression line will yield the inactivation rate k, and its inverse, in accord with

Eq. (2.9), will give the D-value.

If n independent inactivation agents act simultaneously on bacteria, then Eq.

(2.7) will have the same form, with the global inactivation rate given by

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0 2 4 6 8 100.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

N/N

0

t (min)

survival curve

inactivation curve

Figure 2.4: Time evolution of inactivated or survival bacteria during the inacti-

vation process.

k =nXi=1

ki. (2.10)

Consequently, the global D-value can be written as:

1

D=

nXi=1

1

Di. (2.11)

Usually, to quantify the destruction effects of an inactivation agent, survival

or inactivation curves of the microorganism population is used [117, 118]. These

are drawn both in Fig. 2.4. The survival curve (represented by continuous line)

31

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shows the number of the viable microorganisms at the end of the treatment. The

inactivation curve (represented by dashed line) shows the number of the inacti-

vated microorganisms at the end of the treatment time. The survival/inactivation

ratio is used to study the influence of the inactivation agents on microorganisms

viability (i.e., the relative number N/N0 or 1−N/N0 of the surviving/inactivated

bacteria at the end of the treatment period).

2.3.2 Experimental technique used for bacteria inactivation

2.3.2.1 Microorganisms used for testing procedures

The microorganisms used in all the experiments were sporulated form of Bacil-

lus Subtilis (American Type Culture Collection #6633), due to the fact that the

spores present a higher resistance to inactivation when are exposed to extreme

environment conditions than microorganisms in vegetative state [25, 117, 118].

With other words, if the experimental procedure is suitable for sporulated

form inactivation or sterilization, it will certainly give successful results for the

same bacterium, but in the vegetative state. Since a spore is a “dormant” bac-

terium (i.e., a resistant and defensive form of bacteria to harsh environments), the

use of spore contaminated samples for plasma sterilization testing procedures is

encouraged.

Regarding the taxonomy of Bacillus subtilis species, it can be stressed that

phenotipically, Bacillus subtilis #ATCC 6633 which is widely used in sterilization

32

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procedures is almost the same as its counterpart strain of Bacillus atrophaeus for-

merly subtilis #ATCC 9372. Some differences have been observed recently among

which the pigment which appears only to the last one [118]. Moreover, Bacillus

atrophaeus is also known to produce a taxonomic confusion as a consequence of

its reclassification. It is not the case of the strain of Bacillus subtilis #ATCC

6633. Therefore, we choose to maintain the same sporulated form and its scien-

tific name as testing microorganisms throughout the microbiological experimental

procedure.

2.3.2.2 Samples preparation

A volume of 100 µl of sterile water containing a spore population of N0 = 106

was aseptically spread (by dropping) on the surface of a glass slide (25×15 mm2)

and allowed to dry overnight. In order to avoid the spore stacking, the initial

volume of 100 µl was divided in 5 aliquots of 20 µl, dropping them in 5 different

points on the glass slide.

For all the obtained samples, the covering degree of the glass slide surface

was higher than 75% (i.e., α > 0.75, where α is the fraction of the wetted glass

slide surface). Under these conditions the effective contaminated area of the glass

slide is Aeff = αA > 281.25 mm2, A = 375 mm2 being the surface of the glass

slide. Consequently, the mean number of spores per effective contaminated area

is n0 = N0/Aeff < 3.56 × 10−3 µm−2, which means that, on average, each spore

33

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has n−10 > 281.25 µm2 available surface on the glass slide. Taking into account

that the mean surface occupied by an untreated spore is A0 ≈ 0.75 µm2, then

each spore has an average available surface on the glass slide (n0A0)−1 > 375

times higher than its own [57]. This means that the spreading method used in

the present experiments avoids stacking (i.e., the spores form a monolayer on the

surface of the glass slide).

2.3.2.3 Determination of viable spores

After the plasma treatment, the glass slide with the microbiological material

on it was aseptically recovered and washed in 10 ml of sterile water in a glass test

tube. The content of the glass test tube was gently shaken, and then ultrasonicated

at 39.5 kHz for 3 minutes. One ml of this volume was diluted by adding 9 ml of

sterile water. This procedure was repeated until the desired dilution factor was

achieved.

In order to decrease the detection limit of the counting method less than 1

log, a volume of 2 ml of each dilution was transferred and equally plated on 2

PetrifilmsTM (3M Company). Indeed, if from 10 ml dilution containing 10 spores,

only 1ml is plated on a Petrifilm and no colony is detected, the detection limit will

certainly be 1 log (i.e., 10 spores). However, from these 10ml of dilution containing

10 spores, we extracted 2 ml and equally plated them on two Petrifilms. Under

these circumstances, the detection limit decreases under 5 spores (which is less

34

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than 1 log).

For each experimental set, one sample was kept untreated (the control sample).

The Petrifilms were incubated at 32.5 ± 2.5 ◦C for 24±1 hours. After incubation

the results were recorded by counting the colony forming units (CFU) in CFU ×

ml−1, following the count plate method from the "Interpretation Guide" of 3M

PetriFilms [119]. The calculation of the average number of CFU’s per Petrifilm

after the plates were counted was made using the formula:

AV ×DF = CFU/ml (2.12)

whereDF is the dilution factor (the absolute value of the reciprocal of the dilution)

and AV is the average number of colonies per Petrifilm.

Experimental results recorded for a sample treated 1 min by plasma feeded by

100W injected RF power, are shown in the Fig. 2.5. It can be seen that successive

dilutions (I-IV) are plated on two Petrifilms (1st and 2nd rows). When colonies

are too numerous to count (TNTC) on a plate, typically, the entire growth area

will turn pink, as shown in the first two columns (I-II). On the other hand, when

the dilution factor (DF ) increases, small pink spots of variable dimensions can be

distinguished and counted.

Usually, the preferable counting range is between 25 and 250 colonies. When

the average number is more than 250 CFU, as it can be seen in the third column

from the Fig. 2.5, the average number of colonies in 1 cm2 is multiplied by 20 (i.e.,

35

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( I) TNTC (II) TNTC (III) 450 CFU (IV) 46 CFU

1st

2nd

Figure 2.5: Determination of viable spores using the counting method. For this

experimental trial, the results recorded were TNTC (too numerous to count) for

the first two dilutions and an average number of 450 and 46 CFU (colony forming

units) recorded for the next two dilutions, respectively.

approximative area of inoculation is 20 cm2) to find the total count per plate. In

this case the viable spores number was recorded as 4.6× 105 CFU/ml.

To eliminate other causes which can determine spore inactivation, a series of

experiments was carried out only using the contaminated samples, but without

producing plasma. This precaution was taken since it was reported that long time

desiccation in high vacuum environment can neutralize spores [25]. Therefore

36

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several samples were kept more than 80 hours at a pressure lower than 10−4 Pa.

However, after one day of incubation the whole spore population was recovered.

Also, a rapid recovery was observed when oxygen was flowing in the experimental

chamber at the working pressure.

The set-up was cleaned after every experiment to avoid cross-contamination.

The above series of tests showed that the low pressure oxygen environment does

not plays any role in spore inactivation, if plasma is not present.

2.4 Plasma diagnostics

2.4.1 Measurement of electrical properties

Plasma electrical properties in the vicinity of the bacteria sample were evalu-

ated from the I(V ) characteristics of a movable Pt cylindrical electrostatic probe,

0.4 mm in diameter and 6.25 mm in length (LP in Fig. 2.1) inserted in oxygen

plasma. During the experiments, the collecting surface of the probe was placed

horizontally, at 14 mm above the contaminated sample, on the symmetry axis of

both the ring antenna and the bacteria support. The Langmuir probing circuit is

presented in Fig. 2.6.

The compensation of the probe was realized to prevent the RF power influence

on the probe circuit. This was done by inserting an RF signal blocking filter in

the probe circuit, containing three LC circuits in series with the probe tip, having

the resonance frequencies the RF power supply frequency (i.e., f = 13.56 MHz)

37

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U

LC blocking filter

Probe tip

13.56 MHz 3f2f

19.74 pF 20.24 pF 0.17 pF

6.98 µH 1.70 µH 0.90 µH

Figure 2.6: Electronic circuit of the Langmuir probe. The RF compensation is

made by an LC blocking filter.

and its first two harmonics (i.e., f2 = 2f and f3 = 3f , respectively). The current

flowing through the probe is measured.

The plasma parameters (i.e., electron temperature and density) were calcu-

lated from the I(V ) characteristics. When the RF injected power values were

varied from 100 to 400 W the plasma density and electron temperature were es-

timated and from the I(V ) traces and they are represented in Fig. 2.7. It can

be seen that the plasma density increases almost linearly with the injected RF

power (ne ∝ P ). As a consequence of the increasing of the ionization collisions,

the electron average kinetic energy (Te) is decreasing.

38

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100 200 300 4000

1

2

3

4

5

6

1010

2x1010

3x1010

4x1010

n e (cm

-3)

P (W)

T e (eV

)

Figure 2.7: Estimation of the plasma density and electron temperatures from the

I(V ) characteristics of the Langmuir probe. The RF power applied was varied

between 100W and 400 W.

2.4.2 Measurement of the plasma light emission

Light plasma emission was analyzed with a Jobin Y von spectrometer model

DA−40. The optical emission was monitored with a quartz optical and the signal

was fed to a monochromator, as shown in Fig. 2.8. This is connected to a central

unit (controller) which commands the sweeping of the whole wavelengths interval.

The spectra were analyzed within the 300 and 850 nm wavelength interval, due

39

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Figure 2.8: Experimental set-up used for measurement of plasma light emission.

to the physical limitations of the monochromator. The spectra were recorded

and observed by a digital oscilloscope (Tektronix TDS3032) directly connected

to monochromator.

40

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CHAPTER 3

RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF PLASMA

INACTIVATION AGENTS ON BACTERIAL

SPORES IN CONTINUOUS WAVE RF

OXYGEN DISCHARGES

3.1 Introduction

Microorganism inactivation by plasma treatment has stirred a great interest

in the recent years. Oxygen and oxygen-based plasmas proved to be effective for

the inactivation of highly resistant microorganisms, especially of the sporulate

ones [15-18, 37, 57-61]. Radio-frequency driven plasma devices using these gases

at low, medium and atmospheric pressure have been developed and tested for

their potential as alternative technologies to the existing conventional sterilization

techniques [15-18, 42, 60, 62-64]. Although plasma as a sterilization tool has

proved its advantages over the thermal and chemical ones, the precise inactivation

mechanism is still not known, many suppositions being advanced in the last years

[15, 17, 37, 50, 57, 60, 61, 65, 66]. Some works give credit to the optical radiation

as being the dominating inactivation agent, [16-18, 37, 57, 67] others state that

41

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the reactive species from plasma are responsible for bacteria inactivation, [15, 60,

62, 64, 65, 68, 87, 97] and another category of studies propose an explanation

based on the synergy of the above two [17, 18, 57, 60, 64, 65, 69, 88].

Regardless of the tentative microbial decontamination mechanisms already

proposed, it is clear that plasma acts on bacteria with all its three inactivation

agents: heat, optical radiation, and plasma particles (i.e., electrons, ions and

neutrals). In the last years there have been a few attempts to assess the relative

effectiveness of these inactivation agents in low pressure [61, 69] and atmospheric

pressure discharges [68]. However, the number of studies on this topic is still very

small and the reported results are obtained under highly different experimental

conditions to allow comparisons and/or rule out controversies.

The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the relative effects of each of the above

mentioned plasma inactivation agents. In order to study the dynamics of spore

inactivation, the survival curves (i.e., the number of surviving spores as a function

of the treatment time) were traced for different injected RF powers. Using the ob-

tained survival curves, the extracted information allowed to establish the separate

contribution of each of the above three inactivation agents to the reduction of the

viable spore number. These results indicated that during the initial stage of the

plasma treatment of the spore contaminated samples, the most important inacti-

vation agent is the optical radiation, whereas the second stage of treatment, the

leading role is taken over by plasma particles. Moreover, the RF power sensitivity

42

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of the spore inactivation kinetics was also studied by using the Z-value.

The schematic diagram of the chapter is presented in Fig. 3.1.

3.2 Experimental procedure

During the experiments, the RF injected power was varied between 100Wand

400W, with a step of 100W, and it was applied in a continuous wave mode. In all

the cases the microorganisms’ treatment time was extended up to t = 30 min. All

the contaminated samples were handled as described in the previous chapter. In

order to establish the relative importance of the plasma inactivation agents (i.e.,

heat, optical radiation, and plasma particles), three sets of experiments have been

performed. First, for studying only the heat influence on the Bss viability, the

contaminated sample was secluded with a metallic cover, to prevent the action of

the plasma particles and photons. To emphasize the effect of photons, the metallic

cover was replaced by a transparent one. Finally, to evaluate the action of the

plasma particles, any kind of cover was removed, exposing the Bss sample directly

to the plasma.

3.3 Experimental results and Discussion

3.3.1 Influence of heat

Heat represents the most commonmicroorganism inactivation agent. In plasma,

the treatment of temperature sensitive medical tools has been found to be conve-

43

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Solved problems: • Relative importance of plasma inactivation agents [heat (h), optical

radiation (ν) and plasma particles (p)] was assessed • Discussion of the power sensitivity with inactivation kinetics • Introduction of the concept of Z-value specific for plasma sterilization • Invalidation of the speculation proposed to justify the existence of

multislope survival curves as a consequence of spore stacking Unsolved problems:

• Effects of pulse parameters on bacteria inactivation in pulsed plasma for low temperature treatment of thermosensitive medical materials

• Comparison of the inactivation dynamics between continuous wave and pulsed plasma regimes;

• Identification of the sort of particles responsible for bacteria inactivation. • Identification of the actual physical process at the origin of plasma

sterilization.

Relative influence of plasma inactivation agents on bacteria in continuous wave RF oxygen discharges

Temperaturemeasurement

Plasma diagnostics

Experimental procedure(isolation of the effects produced

by plasma inactivation agents)

Dynamics of bacteria population

(survival curves)

Outside of thermal

equilibrium

Close to thermal

equilibrium

k (kh, kν, kp) (inactivation

rates)

D (Dh, Dν, Dp) (decimal

reduction values)

Thermal equilibrium ?

Z-value

Evolution with injected power

(P)

Figure 3.1: Schematic diagram of the chapter.

44

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nient [50], because plasma allows the control of the temperature at the level of the

contaminated object. On the other hand, it has been found that heat represents

a competitive cause in the sterilization mechanism in plasmas [58, 65].

The influence of the heat and the related phenomena of bacteria inactivation

by heat generated from plasma have not been studied yet in detail. Usually,

it is believed that even if the temperature in plasma is very high (like in the

case of the microincineration case) the processed material can not be damaged

because of the very short exposure time. The temperature intervals for a safe

sterilization treatment are largely varying in the scientific literature. For low

pressure discharges, some research groups proposed a temperature less than 70

◦C. Other researchers consider that if the temperature is less than 100 ◦C, then it

will be sufficiently low compared with the temperatures used by using the classical

heat decontamination methods. Moreover, the biological property of the spores

to resist to high temperature gives enough reasons to believe that a sufficient low

temperature is not interfering with the effects of other inactivation agents, and it

is not a cause for microorganisms’ inactivation.

However, during the plasma treatment, the temperature was found to greatly

affect the kinetics of inactivation even if its value is low. Significant variations

of the survival curve profile were obtained when the temperature of the bacterial

holder was kept at ±15 ◦C, and +60 ◦C, respectively. Experimental observations

showed that the temperature appears to introduce competitive effects and the

45

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SH

MP

MR

SS

Figure 3.2: Experimental arrangement used for studying the heat influence on

spore viability. MP-metallic plate. MR-metallic ring. SH-spores holder. SS-

spores sample.

microorganisms deactivation effectiveness is depending on the treatment temper-

ature [58, 71-75].

Therefore, we conducted for the first time experiments related to the effects

introduced by dry heat temperature produced by plasma. To study the heat

influence on spores viability, the separation of the plasma action (i.e., plasma

particles and photons) from the thermal effects on microorganisms is necessary.

This was realized by covering the Bss sample with a stainless steel plate (0.5 mm

thickness). The specific experimental arrangement is presented in Fig. 3.2.

In order to avoid the contact of this plate with spores, the Bss sample, (SS in

Fig. 3.2) the contaminated glass slide was placed inside a stainless steel ring (4

cm inner diameter and 2 mm height, MR in Fig. 3.2) and the metallic plate (MP

46

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0 5 10 15 20 25 300

40

80

120

160

200

T (0 C

)

t (min)

400 W

300 W

200 W

100 W

Figure 3.3: Temporal evolution of the holder temperature recorded during the

plasma experiments. The RF power applied was varied between 100 and 400 W.

The vertical dashed line represents the separation of two regions with different

increasing temperature rates.

in Fig. 3.2 ) was used as a lid laying on the ring.

The temperature evolution at the level of Bss sample was permanently mon-

itored by a thermocouple probe and the temporal profiles of the surface temper-

ature of the holder (SH in Fig. 3.2) are presented in Fig. 3.3. Two separate

regions were obtained, in accord with the previous studies [59, 63, 65]. The first

region is within the first 5 minutes from the ignition of the discharge and presents

47

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a fast temperature increasing rate. The second region is a quasi-linear saturation

one with a much lower rate of the temperature increase, the holder temperature

approaching there the thermal equilibrium with the plasma. The highest temper-

ature, of 198 ◦C, was achieved at P = 400WRF injected power, after a treatment

time of 30 minutes. On the other hand, the lowest temperature of 61.2 ◦C, was

obtained for P = 100 W, after the same treatment time. It is worthwhile to

stress here that the surface of the holder, which was in contact with the tip of the

thermocouple probe (Fig. 2.1), was permanently exposed to plasma. In this way

the temperature profile of the holder surface (Fig. 3.2) was practically unaffected

by the presence of a cover on the contaminated sample. With other words, the

holder temperature displayed in Fig. 3.3 is a direct measure of the injected RF

power, it being the thermodynamic (i.e., macroscopic) measure of the microscopic

interactions between the holder surface exposed to plasma and plasma (particles

and photons).

To assess the role of the heat generated in plasma during the inactivation

process, the microorganism survival curves were studied. The effects of the dry

plasma heat (i.e., heat transferred by thermal conduction from the microorganism

holder to the spore sample) on microorganisms viability are showed in Fig. 3.4.

The profile of these survival curves is a typical one for the heat treatment of

microorganisms [17]: curvilinear, with two characteristic regions, connected by

a shoulder within the first 5 minutes of treatment. Even if the temperature is

48

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0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

t (min)

N/N

0 (%

)

sterility

100 W

200 W

300 W

400 W

Figure 3.4: Survival curves showing the heat effects on Bss viability. The RF

power was in the range of 100-400 W. The temporal behavior of the number N

of survivor spores is represented by continuous lines. N0 is the initial number of

spores. The dashed horizontal line represents the sterility of the sample.

growing fast during the first treatment stage with a high rate (dTdt

>> 0), the

inactivation level is insignificant there. This result can be easily explained by

taking into account that the thermal inactivation of these spores is triggered by

a temperature surpassing a certain threshold value above which the structural

modification of the biological material become irreversible and the growth of a

spore into a colony, after incubation, can not take place anymore. Comparing

49

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100 200 300 400100

101

102

103

Dh (m

in)

P (W)

Figure 3.5: The decimal reduction value Dh experimentally obtained for Bss ex-

posure to heat (h). The injected RF power was varied between 100 and 400

W.

the data in Figs. 3.3 and 3.4, it can be seen that, after 5 min of treatment, the

number of Bss starts to decrease only if the holder temperature surpasses 90 ◦C

(the temperature profile for 200 W RF injected power in Fig. 3.3).

After the first treatment stage, the survival curves show an exponential de-

crease. The survival ratio N(t = 30 min)/N0 decreases from 97% at P = 100 W

to 0.01% at P = 400W. Due to the fact that for the second phase of the survival

curves (i.e., for t > 5 min) the temperature of the holder is almost constant with

50

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a rate closed to zero (dTdt≥ 0; cf. Fig. 3.3), a quasi—isothermal treatment can be

achieved. In this case, the corresponding D—values can be defined and estimated,

as shown in Fig. 3.5.

The curve Dh (the index h referring to heat), corresponding to the Bss inac-

tivation by thermal conduction alone, shows that the time needed to reduce the

number of viable spores with one order of magnitude is decreasing over 80 times

when the RF injected power is increased from 100 to 400 W.

3.3.2 Influence of optical radiation

To emphasize the action of photons on Bss sample, the contribution of plasma

particles to spore inactivation was eliminated. This was realized by replacing the

metallic plate covering the contaminated sample with a quartz one (1 mm in

thickness and cut-off wavelength at 170 nm, such that the contaminated sample

was exposed to the whole light spectrum, excepting the vacuum ultraviolet range).

In this way the Bss sample was affected only by the action of heat (transferred

by conduction from the holder to the microbiological sample, as discussed in the

above subsection) and photons (including all processes accompanying the photon-

spore interaction). The experimental arrangement designed for this purpose is

presented in Fig. 3.6.

It is well-known that the optical radiation produced by different processes in

plasma is an efficient inactivation agent [15-18, 57, 71, 75]. An important source

51

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SH

QP

MR

SS

Figure 3.6: Experimental arrangement to study the influence of optical radiation

on Bss viability. QP-quartz plate. MR-metallic ring. SH-spores holder. SS-spores

sample.

of photons in plasma is represented by atomic and molecular quantum processes

(e.g., de-excitation). Irradiation of microorganisms with electromagnetic radiation

in the ultraviolet range has been found effective for their inactivation, especially

between 220 nm and 280 nm for the inactivation studies. High intensity of photons

fluxes, in this wavelength interval, as obtained in previous studies, have been found

to be resonantly absorbed by the organic molecules of the spore [16].

Even if the ultraviolet emission is weak in oxygen plasma [60, 65], low survival

ratios N/N0 are obtained in the fist treatment stage of the survival curves. The

fast decrease of the Bss population can be attributed to the direct attack on DNA

molecules by the photons which may surpass the spore protective structures. The

photo-desorption process which takes place at the spore surface where the photons

52

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0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

t (min)

100 W

200 W

300 W

400 W

sterility

N/N

0 (%)

Figure 3.7: Plasma photons and heat effects on spores. The injected RF power was

varied between 100 and 400 W. The horizontal dashed line indicates the sterility

of the sample. The vertical dashed line, at t = 5 min, represents the separation

between the inactivation phases.

with high energies are breaking chemical bonds increasing in this way the etch

rates has been emphasized by some researcher groups. Another effect generated

by the photon absorption by the spores is their supplementary heating. More-

over, when the RF applied power increases the photon flux to the microorganisms

sample becomes higher. Also, the bacteria temperature increases with the RF

injected power.

53

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The contribution of photons and heat (transferred by thermal conduction),

produced by oxygen plasma, to the inactivation kinetics is shown in Fig. 3.7.

The survival curves were drawn under the same conditions as in the case of

the heat experiments for a 30 minutes maximum treatment time. They present

a convex, biphasic temporal profile as obtained in previous studies [67]. The

threshold between the regions with different inactivation kinetics is also passed,

after about 5 minutes from the beginning of the treatment. That is marked in

Fig. 3.7 by the vertical dashed line.

During the first treatment stage (i.e., t < 5min), the inactivation effectiveness

is greatly improved, when compared with the heat case (Fig. 3.4). At least 90%

of the initial population of spores is inactivated within this time period. From

Fig. 3.7 it can also be seen, that lower survival ratios are obtained (i.e., greater

inactivation rates k) when the RF injected power is increased. At the end of the

second treatment stage (i.e., after 30 minutes of treatment) total inactivation or

sterility of Bss is observed only for the case of 400 W RF injected power. This

is represented by the intersection of the corresponding survival curve with the

horizontal dashed line, marking the sterility of the sample. After the treatment,

the survival ratios N/N0 are much lower than in the case of heat alone, ranging

from 0.35% at P = 100 W to zero at P = 400 W.

In the second time interval of the survival curves, for a quasi-isothermal profile

of the holder temperature (Fig. 3.3), the D—values can be defined. These are

54

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100 200 300 400100

101

102

103

D

(min

)

P (W)

Dh

Dh+ν

Figure 3.8: The decimal reduction values Dh and Dh+ν experimentally obtained

for Bss exposure to heat (h) and photons (ν). The injected RF power was varied

between 100 and 400 W.

represented in Fig. 3.8, where they are labelled as Dh and Dh+ν (ν denoting

photons). The curve Dh+ν shows a steady and slow decrease with P . Figure 3.8

also shows that in the case of P = 100W, where the effect of thermal conduction

on Bss are small, the inactivation is attributed mainly to the action of the plasma

photons. However, at higher values of the RF injected power, the inactivating role

of the heat transferred to the spores from their holder increases. To separate the

55

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100 200 300 400100

101

102

103

D

(min

)

P (W)

Dh

Figure 3.9: The characteristic decimal reduction values calculated for the action

of heat (h), photons (ν) on Bss. The injected RF power was varied between 100

and 400 W.

influence of photons on Bss viability, from that of heat, the latter’s contribution

must be subtracted. Thus, applying Eq. (2.11), which for this case has the form

D−1ν = D−1

h+ν −D−1h , (3.1)

the values for Dν can be calculated using the informational content of Fig. 3.8.

The obtained results are represented in Fig. 3.9, which shows that for small RF

injected powers (i.e., below 200 W) the photon action is dominant in the process

56

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SH

SS

Figure 3.10: Experimental arrangement used for studying the plasma particle

influence on Bss viability. SH-spores holder. SS-spores sample.

of microorganism inactivation, since in this power range Dν < Dh. As the injected

RF power is increased above 200 W, since Dh < Dν, the main role in reducing

Bss viability is played by heat.

3.3.3 Influence of plasma particles

The contribution of all plasma inactivation agents has been studied by di-

rectly exposing the Bss samples to the plasma. The experimental arrangement

is presented in Fig. 3.10. Working under the same conditions as in the previous

cases, the survival curves obtained for direct plasma action on the contaminated

samples are shown in Fig. 3.11. It can be seen that when plasma particles come

into play, the effectiveness of the inactivation treatment is consistently improved.

A clear change in the behavior of these curves has also been observed. Thus,

57

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0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

N/N

0 (%

)

400 W

300 W

200 W

100 W

t (min)

sterility

Figure 3.11: Survival curves of Bss for direct exposure to plasma. The injected

RF power was varied between 100 and 400W. The vertical dashed line shows the

separation between the inactivation phases, for 100 W injected RF power. For

injected RF powers higher than 100 W, the transition between the inactivation

phases occurs earlier. The horizontal dashed line shows the sterility of the sample.

58

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the threshold between the two phases of the temporal profile of the survival ratio

given by the vertical dashed line in Fig. 3.11 is shifted towards lower treatment

time values when the RF injected power is increased. Also, comparing the data

from Figs. 3.7 and 3.11, it results that this shift is due to the action of the plasma

particles in the inactivation process.

The second phase of the inactivation kinetics becomes shorter and shows a

total inactivation (i.e., sterilization of the sample) of the Bss when the RF injected

power is higher than 200 W. This can be seen in Fig. 3.11 from the intersection

of the horizontal dashed line (i.e., marking the sterility) with the fitted lines of

the experimental data. Moreover, the results displayed in Fig. 3.11 show that

the plasma treatment of the spores becomes more efficient when the RF injected

power is increased. Correspondingly, the total inactivation time becomes shorter,

with values decreasing from 20 minutes at P = 200 W to 9 minutes at P = 400

W.

The last phase of the survival curves, represented in Fig. 3.11, for which the

holder temperature is in the saturation region (Fig. 3.3), allows for the determina-

tion of the fingerprint of the plasma treatment efficiency: the D-value. Its profile

is also displayed in Fig. 3.12, the corresponding curve, obtained for all the used

RF injected powers, being labeled as Dh+ν+p, where the index p represents the

contribution of plasma particles. Comparing the curves of Dh+ν and Dh+ν+p, it

can be seen that the action of plasma particles on bacteria reduces with one order

59

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100 200 300 400100

101

102

D

(min

)

P (W)

Dh+ν

Dh+ν+p

Figure 3.12: Decimal reduction values Dh+ν and Dh+ν+p experimentally obtained

for Bss exposure to heat (h), photons (ν) and plasma particles (p). The injected

RF power was varied between 100 and 400 W.

of magnitude the time needed to inactivate 90% of the number of microorganisms.

Again, making use of Eq. (2.11), written in the form

D−1p = D−1

h+ν+p −D−1h+ν , (3.2)

the influence of the plasma particle action on the spore population can be high-

lighted. The results are displayed in Fig. 3.13 and they clearly show that for an

RF injected power above 125 W, the leading role in Bss inactivation is played by

60

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100 200 300 400100

101

102

103

D

(min

)

P (W)

Dh

Dp

Figure 3.13: Decimal reduction values calculated for the action of the heat (h),

photons (ν) and plasma particles (p) on Bss. The injected RF power was varied

between 100 and 400 W.

plasma particles (Dp < min {Dν ,Dh}). The explanation is as follows: as the RF

injected power is increased, the plasma number density also increases (Fig. 2.7).

In this way the collision frequency of plasma particles with the Bss increases. As

expected, from an RF injected power lower than 125 W, the main inactivation

agent is the optical radiation generated in plasma. More than this, the fact that

the profile of Dh is similar with that of Dp shows that the heating of the bacteria

61

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holder is mainly given by particle collisions.

3.4 Initial stage of plasma treatment

During the initial stage of plasma treatment of the Bss samples (i.e., roughly

the first 5min of the inactivation process), the compound system plasma—contaminated

sample is out of thermal equilibrium (Fig. 3.3). Consequently, as stated above,

the D-value cannot be defined and used as a quantitative measure of the time

needed for a tenfold reduction of the spore population. However, the assessment

of the relative influence of the plasma inactivation agents on the spore mortality

can still be done by making use of the inactivation rate k proper to each inactiva-

tion agent. This approach is justified by the fact that k can be used independently

of how far the system is outside the thermal equilibrium. Although k and D are

formally related by Eq. (2.9), it is worthwhile to note that the validity of this

equation is conditioned by the presence of the thermal equilibrium between the

contaminated sample and plasma.

The profiles of the inactivation rates, proper to each plasma inactivation agent,

as functions of the injected RF power, can be easily obtained by analyzing the in-

formational content of the Bss survival curves (Figs. 3.4, 3.7, 3.11) corresponding

to the first stage of the inactivation process and making use of Eq. (2.10). These

curves are displayed in Fig. 3.14.

As expected, because the sample is out of thermal equilibrium with plasma,

62

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the role of heat in inactivating the microorganisms is almost inexistent. The

results also show that the leading role in spore destruction is played by the optical

radiation produced in plasma. Moreover, the interaction of plasma particles with

the Bss population is only of secondary importance for their inactivation, when

the treatment time is shorter than the time needed by the contaminated sample

to reach the thermal equilibrium with plasma.

100 200 300 400

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8 kν

kp

k 1(min

-1)

P (W)

kh

Figure 3.14: Inactivation rates k1, corresponding to the first treatment stage,

calculated for the action of heat (h), photons (ν) and plasma particles (p) on Bss.

The injected RF power was varied between 100 and 400 W.

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3.5 Power sensitivity of spore inactivation kinetics

In the assessment of the performances of a sterilization device working on the

basis of a given inactivation method (e.g., using plasma), the energy consumption

plays a key role. More specifically, for a given treatment time, it is important

to know how large should be the increase of the injected power, with respect to

a reference value, such that to achieve a tenfold microorganism mortality, with

respect to that obtained for the reference value of the injected power. Since the

inactivation kinetics can be described by the D-value, the above problem can be

solved by relating the injected power with the treatment temperature and studying

the temperature profile of D. It is obvious that this solution is valid only if the

treatment time is long enough such that the contaminated sample to reach the

thermal equilibrium with the surrounding environment (e.g., plasma), or else the

temperature concept cannot be defined.

The temperature dependence on the injected power can be established by

using the experimental data displayed in Fig. 3.3. The difficulty which arises

here is related to the establishing of a proper value for the sample temperature,

because during the second stage of the inactivation process the saturation value of

the holder temperature increases with the treatment time (Fig. 3.3). Under these

circumstances, the proper sample temperature was chosen as being the minimum

value of the holder temperature for which the holder reaches a state situated in

the linear neighborhood of the thermal equilibrium with plasma. Specifically,

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100 200 300 4000

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

T

(o C)

P (W)

Figure 3.15: Holder temperature T — injected RF power P gauging curve. The

temperature was determined when the holder was in the linear neighborhood of

the thermal equilibrium with plasma.

this temperature was determined as that corresponding to the intersection point

between the tangent lines to the temperature profile corresponding to the two

stages of Bss treatment. This approach is illustrated in Fig. 3.3 with dashed lines,

for the curve corresponding to 400 W injected RF power. The final results are

represented in Fig. 3.15 in the form of a quasilinear temperature—power gauging

curve.

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If for a reference treatment temperature Tref , the decimal reduction value is

Dref , then for any other treatment temperature T the D-value will be:

D = Dref × 10−T−Tref

Z , (3.3)

In Eq. (3.3) the quantity Z (◦C) is the so-called Z-value, defined as the

temperature increase required for a tenfold reduction of D. Using the values of

D represented in Fig. 3.13, when all the inactivation agents are allowed to act on

the spores (i.e., Dh+ν+p) and the temperatures calculated for the T − P gauging

curve from Fig. 3.15, the semilogarithmic dependence of Dh+ν+p on the sample

temperature T can be mapped and it is displayed in Fig. 3.16.

In accord with Eq. (3.3), the inverse of the slope of the linear fit of the

represented data gives the Z-value, which in this case is Z = 106 ◦C. If the

reference value of the injected RF power is Pref = 100 W and the gauging T − P

gauging curve is approximated as linear (the slope being in that case σ = 0.3

◦C/W), then a decrease of D with one decade, with respect to the reference value

Dref = 12.03 min (i.e., D = 1.20 min), will correspond to an increase of the

injected RF power with ∆P = P − Pref = Z/σ = 353 W.

3.6 Conclusions

The inactivation of Bss was studied in low pressure oxygen RF plasma op-

erated in continuous wave mode in order to analyze the relative importance of

66

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30 60 90 120 150

0.1

1

10

100

D

h + ν

+ p (

min

)

T (oC)

Figure 3.16: Decimal reduction value of the Bss population as a function of the

holder temperature, at thermal equilibrium with plasma.

plasma inactivation agents. When the dry heat produced in plasma was used as

the only plasma inactivation agent, its action proved to be very limited, not being

able to produce the sterilization of the spore sample, even at high values of the

injected RF power.

When heat and optical radiation produced in plasma were acting together

as inactivation agents, the effectivity in reducing the number of viable spores in-

creased, and for the maximum used value of the injected RF power the sterilization

67

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of the sample was achieved. Moreover, at low values of the injected RF power

the dominant inactivation agent proved to be the optical radiation produced in

plasma, the heat transferred to the sample from the bacteria holder by thermal

conduction having little effect on reducing the spore viability. However, at higher

power values, the relative importance of these two agents was reversed, heat be-

coming the dominant agent. This proves that as the plasma density increases, the

bombardment of the "box" containing the Bss sample with plasma particles has

a far more destructive role than photons.

When plasma particles are allowed to act on spores, together with the other

two inactivation agents, a much better effectivity of this kind of treatment can be

observed. Except for the case of the lowest injected RF power, for all the other

powers the sample sterilization was realized. Besides this, the sterilization time

decreased about 3 times when the spores were directly exposed to plasma particle

bombardment.

Regarding the relative importance of these three inactivation agents on spore

sterilization, the experimental results proved, for the first time to our knowledge,

that:

• during the initial stage of plasma treatment of the spore contaminated sam-

ples, for all the used values of the injected RF power, the most important

inactivation agent is the optical radiation, the action of plasma particles on

spores being of secondary importance for reducing their viability, whereas

68

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the dry heat produced in plasma has an insignificant role for spore inacti-

vation;

• during the second stage of plasma treatment (i.e., when the spore sample is

closed to the thermal equilibrium with plasma) the dominant inactivation

agent is represented by plasma particles (excepting the case of the lowest

injected RF power, for which the dominant inactivation agent is optical

radiation).

These experimental results endorse the above statement, according to which

the semilogarithmic survival curves present two slopes only if more than one in-

activation agent act on the contaminated sample and the dominant role of one

of them is taken over by another one, during the contamination process. In the

study presented here plasma particles take over the role of the dominant inac-

tivation agent from the optical radiation. The fact that, for the lowest value of

the injected RF power the main inactivation agent is optical radiation during the

whole decontamination period indicates that, in fact, the survival curve has only

one slope. This can be seen in Figs. 3.4, 3.7 and 3.11 by a simple inspection of the

survival curves obtained for P = 100W. Moreover, this conclusion invalidates the

speculation [17, 81] proposed to justify the existence of multislope semilogarithmic

survival curves as a consequence of microorganism stacking on the contaminated

sample. Besides, some recent experimental results [57] showed two-slope survival

(or inactivation) curves for the inactivation of contaminated samples on which the

69

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microorganisms were disposed in monolayers.

Based on the obtained experimental results the injected RF power sensitivity

of the spore inactivation kinetics was also established, by determining and using

the Z-value corresponding to the employed inactivation method.

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CHAPTER 4

EFFECTS OF LOW TEMPERATURE

PULSED PLASMA DISCHARGE ON

BACTERIAL SPORES INACTIVATION

4.1 Introduction

In the last decades, medical and food industries have searched to implement

new sterilization methods, with more practical advantages than the existing con-

ventional techniques [42, 48, 78]. The sterilization with plasma proved to be one

of these successful solutions, acting on microorganisms with all its sterilization

agents, i.e., heat, optical radiation, and particles (electrons, ions, neutrals) [15-

17, 57, 71, 79, 81]. For a fast inactivation of the microorganisms, oxygen and

oxygen-based plasmas were found to be very effective due to their high concentra-

tion of powerful oxidant particles, which are assumed to play an important role

in bacteria neutralization [18, 66, 70, 82, 83]. On the other hand, the treatment

of the temperature-sensitive medical tools requires a low temperature environ-

ment during the sterilization procedure. Regarding the heat effects on medical

tool surfaces, pulsed discharges have been recently used as a sterilization method.

71

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The pulse period covered a wide interval, from few microseconds to several tens

of seconds [16, 17, 64, 65, 84, 86]. Although the use of pulsed discharges brings

the advantage of low heat absorption by the treated object, and generally, offers

the possibility of temperature control at the level of the sample (by modifying the

pulse characteristics as control parameters) and of the sterilization time as well,

how microorganism survival curves are affected by pulsed operation mode has not

yet been systematically studied.

The purpose of this chapter is to present new experimental results concerning

the detailed analysis of the sterilization of a Bss contaminated surface, using a low

pressure pulsed RF oxygen discharge. To our knowledge, this is the first study

in low pressure plasmas starting from the in-depth analysis of the microorganism

survival curves and relating the inactivation rates with plasma parameters (ob-

tained from electrical and optical diagnostics), having the pulse characteristics

(pulse frequency and duty cycle, respectively) as control parameters.

The schematic diagram of the chapter is presented in Fig. 4.1.

4.2 Experimental procedure

The injected RF power was pulsed with the help of a pulse generator connected

to the RF source (Fig. 2.1). During the experiments, the effective RF injected

power was set to 200W. The plasma parameters at the level of the microorganism

holder and optical plasma emission were determined as it was already described

72

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Plasmadiagnostics

Temperature measurement

Evolution of light emission

with pulse characteristics

Experimental procedure(changing the pulse

parameters ton and α)

Dynamics of bacteria population(surviving curves)

Outside of thermal

equilibrium

Solved problems: • Pulsed plasma ensure a low-temperature treatment of thermosensitive

medical materials • The inactivation rates were higher in cw plasma for when same

injected energy in the discharge as in the case of pulsed plasma • Inactivation rates (k1 and k2) were correlated with both optical and

electrical plasma properties Unsolved problem:

• Discrimination of the sort of plasma particles which plays the major role in sterilization process;

• Identification of the actual physical process at the origin of plasma sterilization;

Evolution of plasma density

with pulse characteristics

k2

Close to thermal

equilibrium

Effects of pulse characteristics on bacteria inactivation by low temperature pulsed plasma

Thermal equilibrium?

k1

Optical measurement

Electrical measurement

Close to thermal

equilibrium

Figure 4.1: Schematic diagram of the chapter.

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in chapter 2. The treatment time of the contaminated samples was extended up

to t = 30 min, in all the cases.

4.2.1 Pulse characteristics

The experiments in the pulsed regime have been realized by time-modulating

the RF signal, and changing the temporal pulse characteristics. If ton is the time

interval in which the RF signal was feeded to the antenna and toff is the time

interval during which the RF signal is zero, then the main quantities that define

the temporal profile of a pulse are its frequency fp:

fp = (ton + toff )−1 (4.1)

ton,off being the power-on (-off) time, and its duty cycle α, defined as

α =ton

ton + toff. (4.2)

The characteristic waveform of the pulse modulated RF signal is presented in Fig.

4.2, where fp = 0.1 kHz and α = 50%.

Under these conditions, the pulse can be modified by varying the above two

characteristics. Moreover, due to the fact that both fp and α are functions of

ton and toff , a similar change of the pulse temporal profile can be achieved by

monitoring ton and/or toff . However, because the plasma action on microorgan-

isms is influenced by the power-on time (ton) and by the pulse duty cycle (α), the

74

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-0.01 0.00 0.01 0.02-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

V (k

V)

1/fp (Hz)

Figure 4.2: The RF pulse modulated signal for fp = 0.1 kHz and α = 50%.

variables chosen for the present experiments were ton and α. Thus, to analyze the

influence of the pulsed injected RF signal on Bss viability, two sets of experiments

were carried out one in which ton was varied and α kept constant, and the other

one for which ton was kept constant and α varied.

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4.2.2 Injected RF power

In order to compare the results obtained in our experiments, in which the

treatment time of Bss samples was the same, we imposed the same effective in-

jected RF power for all cases (i.e., P = 200 W). The key to the whole issue is

that for comparing the results obtained for the cw and pw modes, the total energy

injected into system from the RF power supply must be the same for all cases.

For the pulsed-mode, if the duration of the pulse is τ , and the pulse period is T ,

then the injected power will be

P pulse =

⎧⎪⎪⎨⎪⎪⎩P ppeff , t ∈ [0, τ)

0, t ∈ (τ , T ], (4.3)

where P ppeff is the pulse peak effective power, then the total energy E injected

during a period is

E = P pulseeff T =

⎛⎝ 1T

TZ0

P pulsedt

⎞⎠T =

τZ0

P pulsedt+

TZτ

P pulsedt = P ppeffτ , (4.4)

where P pulseeff is the effective power during the whole pulse period.

In the cw-mode, the total energy injected in a time corresponding to the pulse

period is

E = P cweffT, (4.5)

where P cweff is the effective injected RF power for the cw case. From Eq.(4.3) and

76

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(4.4) it follows that

P cweff = P pp

eff

τ

T. (4.6)

So, if the effective injected power in the cw mode is the same with the effective

pulse-peak power, then, from Eq.(4.6) it follows that T = τ . With other words, in

order to compare the results for the cw and pulsed-mode, the net plasma-on times

must be the same in all cases analyzed in the thesis and not the total treatment

time.

In our experiments we imposed the values of the P ppeff to follow the relation

P ppeff =

P cweff

α, (4.7)

where α is the pulse duty-cycle (i.e., same injected energy in a given treatment

time). Taking into account the definition of α [see Eq.(4.2), α = τT], then the

Eqs. (4.7) and (4.6) are equivalent. With other words, in order to have α ≤ 1,

we modified the P ppeff in accord with Eq. (4.7), such that all the results to be

comparable, when the total treatment time is fixed to 30 min for all the studied

cases.

Therefore, in the first set of experiments, ton was set equal with toff (i.e.,

α = 50%) and ton was varied. Because of the equality of these two time periods,

varying ton is equivalent with the modification of the pulse frequency (i.e., fp).

Finally, in the second set of experiments the power-on time was kept constant

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ton = 500 µs, and the duty cycle was modified. All the results were compared

with those obtained when the RF power was continuously injected into the system.

For the first experimental set the cw-mode is equivalent to ton → ∞, or fp → 0.

For the second one, the cw operation mode can be understood as α→ 100%.

4.3 Experimental results and discussion

4.3.1 Temperature evolution of the bacteria holder

The analysis of the Bss population dynamics cannot be realized without know-

ing the temporal profiles of the holder temperature during plasma treatment, as

was stated in the chapter 3. We saw that, the heating of microorganisms in plasma

is realized by photon absorption and plasma particle collisions with microorgan-

isms and their substrate. Recombination of the neutral oxygen atoms on the

surface of the bacteria holder has been recently studied and has also been found

to bring an important contribution to the reduction of the inactivation times, by

heating the microorganisms [65].

For both experimental sets the temperature profiles are displayed in Figs. 4.3

and 4.4, showing two regions with different growth rates of the temperature. They

are denoted by I and II, respectively.

When the discharge is ignited, the temperature rises with a high rate in the

first 15 min (dTdt

>> 0 in region I). After this period the holder—plasma heat

exchange becomes slower since they get closer to the thermal equilibrium (dTdt≥ 0

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0 5 10 15 20 25 30

20

40

60

80

100

120

T (0 C

)

t (min)

cw 0.10 kHz 0.25 kHz 0.50 kHz 0.75 kHz

III

Figure 4.3: Time evolution of the spore holder temperature when the RF injected

power is pulsed by changing fp from 0 to 0.75 kHz and keeping α = 50%.

in region II). Figure 4.3 presents the temporal evolution of the temperatures

obtained when ton was varied, such that fp was changed from 0 to 0.75 kHz, at

fixed α = 50%. It can be seen that the highest increase rate of the temperature

is achieved when the RF power was injected in the cw-mode (i.e., fp = 0). After

30 minutes of plasma treatment the maxim temperature was reached at 106.2

◦C. In the case of pulsed plasma, the level of the temperature was, for all pulse

frequencies, lower than in the cw-mode, reaching the minimum (i.e., 90.3 ◦C) for

the highest pulse frequency (i.e., fp = 0.75 kHz). From 0.25 kHz to 0.75 kHz,

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0 5 10 15 20 25 30

20

40

60

80

100

120

T (0 C

)

t (min)

cw 80% 60% 40% 20%

III

Figure 4.4: Time evolution of the spore holder temperature when the RF injected

power is pulsed by varying α between 20% and 100% and keeping ton = 500 µs.

the temperature differences are not notable, varying between 90 ◦C and 94 ◦C.

On the other hand, when the power-on time was kept constant (ton = 500 µs),

the temperature increase rate is less accentuated when α was lowered (Fig. 4.4).

Again, the maximum value of the bacteria holder temperature was observed for

the cw-mode, it decreasing with the reduction of the duty cycle. For α below 60%,

the temperature values are within the 80 ◦C - 84.5 ◦C interval.

The above results prove that plasma can ensure a lower temperature treatment

of the thermosensitive surfaces, which cannot be sterilized without damaging them

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by using any of the classical heat sterilization techniques. The temperature values

recorded at the end of the second phase of the thermodynamic process describe

the thermodynamic quasiequilibrium of the entire system (i.e., plasma, microor-

ganisms and the holder). Consequently, the temperature difference between that

of the support and that of the Bss sample diminishes towards zero. On the other

hand, microscopically, the entire situation may be different, although at micro-

scopic level the notion of temperature does not make any sense. Anyway, what is

important in this case is the macroscopic effect of the heat transfer from plasma

to contaminated sample and the measure of this effect is given by the thermo-

dynamic temperature. Moreover, the data also show that this temperature can

be further decreased by pulsing the discharge (i.e., increase the pulse frequency

or/and decreasing the duty cycle).

Taking into account the high resistance of Bss to high temperatures [114], the

effect of the heat produced by plasma in our experiments have a low influence on

their inactivation. To asses the role of the heat on bacteria, the microbiological

sample was encased in a metallic cover [71]. Under these conditions, the survival

curve was represented for the most unfavorable case (Fig. 4.5), i.e., the cw mode

(P = 200 W cw), for which the holder temperature is the highest (Figs. 4.3 and

4.4).

The results showed that after 30 min of treatment, the number of surviving

microorganisms was 0.79 × 105. This reduction of the Bss population with only

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0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

t (min)

N/N

0 (%

)

sterility

200 W cw

Figure 4.5: Time evolution of the survival ratio N/N0 when the plasma optical

radiation and particle actions were eliminated and the heat was the only Bss

inactivation agent. The effective RF power was 200 W, injected in the cw mode.

one order of magnitude when the heat was the only inactivation agent allowed

to act on the spores, definitely proves its low contribution to the sterilization

process. Moreover, the heat influence on Bss inactivation kinetics for the cw

mode was depicted in detail in the chapter 3 and it was stated that heat plays

just a secondary role in the second treatment stage, much less important than

plasma particles.

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To conclude, we found 4 distinct methods for decreasing the temperature

at the level of the treated samples, in the sterilization of temperature-sensitive

objects, directly exposed to plasma:

1. Placing the contaminated objects beyond the critical distance from the plasma

source. In this way the holder temperature can be lowered under an

imposed limit (e.g., 70 ◦C) for which the material of the object is still

not physically damaged by the heat. Our inactivation experiments and

temperature measurements have been realized very close to the plasma

production region, at 3.5 cm below the middle of the antenna on its

symmetry axis. It is true that more than 80 ◦C have been obtained

there, but a lower temperature can be achieved just by moving the

microorganism holder downstream several cm. Our aim is to show

the correlation between the temperature-time profiles of the bacteria

holder, and the survival curves obtained after plasma treatment, and,

secondly, to prove experimentally that the temperature very close to

antenna is decreasing to reasonable values when the RF power is pulse-

modulated.

2. Pulsing the injected power. The results obtained by us clearly show

that by increasing the pulse frequency, by decreasing the duty-cycle,

or by a proper combination of the above two control parameters, the

temperature at the level of the bacterial sample can be decreased even

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below 70 ◦C.

3. Increasing the injected power. If the effective injected RF power is

increased, the temperature at the level of the bacterial sample can be

kept low, as long as the treatment time needed for sterilization is short

enough, not to approach the thermal equilibrium with plasma.

4. Decreasing the injected power. Since the temperature at the bacteria

holder level decreases with the decrease of the effective injected power,

the above method can be successfully used, though at the expense of

the treatment time.

4.3.2 Temporal dynamics of bacterial population

To obtain more information about plasma-microorganisms interaction in this

low-temperature environment, the temporal dynamics of the number of surviving

Bss has been studied. The inactivation results for ton variation (i.e., when fp

is changed from 0.10 to 0.75 kHz) are presented in Fig. 4.6, together with the

survival curve for the cw case.

The linear fittings of the plotted data are showed only for the extreme behav-

iors, i.e., for cw RF injected power (the solid lines), and for pulsed plasma with

fp = 0.75 kHz (the dashed lines). In both cases the curves present a two-phase ki-

netics with different inactivation rates (marked by k1 and k2 in Fig. 4.6). Usually,

after about 5 minutes of treatment the slopes change, showing low killing rates in

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0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

0.10 kHz

t (min)

0.25 kHz

N/N

0 (%)

0.50 kHz

0.75 kHz

cw

k1

k2

sterilization

Figure 4.6: Time evolution of the survival ratio N/N0 when the pulse frequency

was varied from 0 to 0.75 kHz. The time evolution of the survivals for fp = 0.75

kHz is represented by dashed line, and for cw (i.e., fp = 0 Hz) injected power

by solid line. The duty cycle was kept fixed at α = 50%. The intersection of

the solid line with the horizontal dashed line shows the full extinction of theBss

population.

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the second phase of the inactivation process.

The data emphasize that the inactivation speed increases with the decrease of

the pulse frequency (dk1,2dfp

< 0), the plasma treatment efficiency being maximum

for the cw-mode. Moreover, for the cw-mode, the second slope of the inactivation

kinetics becomes shorter, showing a reduction with six order of magnitude of the

number of viable bacteria (i.e., sterilization, or with other words, less than one

colony) after 20 minutes of treatment. A similar result was obtained after 25

minutes for fp = 0.10 kHz. This is represented by the intersection of the solid line

with dashed horizontal line. For the highest pulse frequency (fp = 0.75 kHz) the

survival ratio achieved after 30 minutes of treatment was 0.006% of the initial Bss

population.

The survival curves obtained when ton = 500 µs and α was changed are

displayed in Fig. 4.7. These data show that the efficiency of the plasma treatment

increases with the duty cycle (dk1, 2dα

> 0), being maximum again for the cw-mode.

When α ≥ 80%, the spore counting indicated sterility of the sample (shown in

Fig. 4.7 by the intersection of the survival curve with the horizontal dashed line)

for treatment times under 25 min.

The slopes of the linear fittings of the survival curves, for both treatment

stages of the inactivation dynamics, give the inactivation rates k1 (min−1) - for

the first slope, and k2 (min−1) - for the second one. Their dependence on the

pulse frequency is illustrated in Fig. 4.8, together with the corresponding val-

86

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0 5 10 15 20 25 3010-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

80 %

N/N

0 (%)

t (min)

cw

20 % 40 %

60 %

k1

k2

sterilization

Figure 4.7: Time evolution of the survival ratio N/N0 when the duty cycle was

varied from 20% to 80%. The dashed inactivation curve corresponds to α = 20%,

whereas the solid one to cw case (i.e., α = 100%). The power-on time was kept

fixed at 500 µs. The intersection of the solid line with the horizontal dashed line

shows the full extinction of the Bss population.

87

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0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.80.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

k 1, 2 (m

in-1

)

fp (kHz)

k1 cw

k2 cw

k2

k1

(a)

Figure 4.8: Inactivation rates k1,2 vs. pulse frequency fp. fp was varied from 0.10

to 0.75 kHz. The duty cycle was kept fixed at 50%. The dashed horizontal lines

are the inactivation rates obtained for cw RF injected power. The effective RF

power injected was 200 W.

ues obtained for the cw-mode (represented by dashed lines). It can be observed

that for both slopes the inactivation rates decrease with the increase of the pulse

frequency (dk1dfp

< 0). For the second slope, the inactivation rate decreases to a

saturation value k2 ' 0.043 min−1, for fp ≥ 0.5 kHz.

The inactivation rates corresponding to the slopes of the survival curves from

Fig. 4.7, obtained for the varying α, are represented in Fig. 4.9. Their values for

88

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20 40 60 80 1000.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

k 1, 2 (m

in-1)

α (%)

k1

k2

k2 cw

k1 cw(b)

Figure 4.9: Inactivation rates k1,2 vs. duty cycle α. ton = 500 µs, and α was varied

from between 20% and 80%. The dashed horizontal lines are the inactivation rates

obtained for cw RF injected power. The effective RF injected power was 200 W.

the cw-mode are also shown, as dashed lines. For the pulsed plasma, the value

for the first slope shows a minimum at about α = 40%. Above this values of the

duty cycle, the inactivation rate increases until it reaches a value k1 = 0.7 min−1

for α = 80%.

The highest inactivation rate is again obtained for the cw-mode (k1 = 0.98

min−1 ). On the other hand, the profile of the inactivation rate corresponding to

the second slope has a monotonous increase with respect to α.

89

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300 400 500 600 700 800 900

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

I (ar

b. u

nit)

λ (nm)

777.1 nm

Figure 4.10: Plasma emisson spectrum for the RF injected power set to 200 W

cw mode.

4.3.3 Evolution of light emission intensity with pulse char-

acteristics

In the case of oxygen plasma, which is a poor emitter in the UV range, it is be-

lieved that etching is one of the main inactivation mechanisms [17, 61, 64, 65, 81].

It has been postulated that plasma radicals penetrate and can diffuse inside the

spore material, and the spore surface is eroded through etching. The Scanning

Electron Microscopy photos presented by various research groups are bringing

90

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hν = 1.59 eV

ε (eV)

10.76 9.17

0 fundamental level

1s22s22p33s1

1s22s22p33p1

Figure 4.11: Atomic energy levels for OI atom, showing the transition from the

excited 3p1 state to the inferior 3s1 one.

some evidence on these physical phenomena and the related mechanisms of steril-

ization. The most important role in the inactivation process has been attributed

to reactive oxidizing species created in plasma, through plasma-bacteria surface

interactions [61, 64-66, 82-86]. In order to obtain an estimation of excited neutrals

in the discharges, the evolution of the time-averaged value of the light intensity

< I > of atomic oxygen emission line at 777.1 nm with pulse characteristics has

been monitored.

This emission line (Fig.4.10) is the most pronounced one in the whole wave-

length interval and corresponds to the de-excitation of OI from the excited state

1s22s22p33p1 (corresponding to the energy ε1 = 10.76 eV above the fundamental

91

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0.000 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004

0

1

2

3

4

5

I (ar

b. u

nit)

1/fp (s)

Figure 4.12: Temporal profile of the averaged emission intensity I at 777.1 nm

for pulse characteristics of ton = 500 µs and α 20%. The average RF injected

power was set to 200 W.

state) to the excited state 1s22s22p33s1 (ε2 = 9.17 eV) as it can be seen from Fig.

4.11.

To reach the spore DNA, the inactivation agents must surpass the protective

organic barriers (i.e., the coat and the cortex). In its path to the spore’s core,

the intensity of the incident radiation is exponentially attenuated by the external

structures. Therefore the optical radiation needs high intensity and not a certain

wavelength. Hence, even the photons with wavelengths in visible or infrared can

92

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0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020

0

1

2

3

4

I (ar

b. u

nit)

1/fp (s)

Figure 4.13: Temporal profile of the averaged emission intensity I at 777.1 nm

for pulse characteristics of fp = 0.1 kHz and α = 50%. The average RF injected

power was set to 200 W.

reach the DNA. Therefore, not only the UV spectrum has bactericidal effects. It

is possible that the energy of the emitted photons at the transition between the

above two atomic levels (∆ε = 1.59 eV) be responsible for breaking the weak

hydrogen bonds of the spore’s DNA, inducing its death. This assumption is based

on the recent experimental findings [115, 116], according to which the strands of

the nitrogen bases in the DNA in the gas phase can be destructed at subexcitation

energies. Moreover, it is experimentally proved [116] that electrons with low

93

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0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.80.0

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

< I >

(arb

.uni

t)

fp (kHz)

Figure 4.14: Averaged intensity < I > of OI emission line at 777.1 nm for different

pulse characteristics when fp was varied from 0.10 to 0.75 kHz. The duty cycle

was kept fixed at 50%. The average RF injected power was set to 200 W.

kinetic energies (i.e., about 1 eV) can initiate the process of strand breaking,

when colliding with the DNA, the main target being the weak hydrogen bridges

between the complementary nitrogen bases.

Figures. 4.12 and 4.13 present the temporal profiles of the intensity of atomic

oxygen averaged emission at 777.1 nm in the pulsed plasma mode changing the

pulse characteristics. Figure 4.12 shows this profile when ton = 500 µs and α =

20%. It can be observed that a high peak intensity of the emitted light was

94

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20 40 60 800.0

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

< I >

(arb

.uni

t)

α (%)

Figure 4.15: Averaged intensity < I > of OI emission line at 777.1 nm for different

pulse characteristics when ton = 500 µs, and α was varied from 20% to 80%. The

average RF injected power was set to 200 W.

recorded during the power on time, but this does not have enough time to saturate.

On the other hand in Fig. 4.13, where α = 50% and fp = 0.1 kHz, the emission

peak decreases to lower values and tends to saturate at about half of the initial

peak intensity value. When the RF power is off the light emission diminishes to

zero.

The profile of the time-averaged value of the light intensity, corresponding to

the temporal evolution of the above spectral line, against the pulse frequency, is

95

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shown in Fig. 4.14.

It can be seen that the profile of the inactivation rate corresponding to the

first slope (k1 in Fig. 4.8) of the survival curves has the same tendency as the

emission intensity in Fig. 4.14. On the other hand, the evolution of the atomic

emission line intensity < I > at 777.1 nm with the duty cycle of the pulse (Fig.

4.15) shows, in integral values, a similar profile with that of the inactivation rate

obtained, under the same conditions, for the first slope (Fig.4.9) of the survival

curves. It can be seen that for pulsed plasma, after a minimum at α = 40%

(similar as in Fig. 4.9), the light emission intensity < I > starts to increase,

explaining the inactivation rates profile from α = 40% to 80%.

4.3.4 Evolution of plasma density with pulse characteristics

In order to find the influence of plasma particle density on inactivation dynam-

ics, the ion saturation current Iis collected by the Langmuir probe was monitored

when the pulse characteristics were modified. The relation between plasma density

and Iis is shown in the Eq. 4.8.

ne =Iis√Te

rM

e

1

0.61eS(4.8)

where Te is the electron temperature, M is the ion mass and S is probe collecting

surface. Due to the fact that the electron temperature has small values (≤ 4 eV,

as shown in Fig. 2.7 for P = 200W cw injected RF power) and that it contributes

96

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0.000 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

I is (m

A)

1/fp (s)

Figure 4.16: Temporal profile of the ion saturation current, for ton = 500 µs and

α = 20%. The average RF injected power was set to 200 W.

to the ion saturation current as a square root, having reduced influence on the

above current variations, it follows that the ion saturation current can be used as

a good measure of plasma density.

The collecting area of the Langmuir probe was situated on top of the Petri

dish, biased at a potential of −70 V to ensure the exclusive collection of ions. The

temporal profiles of the ion saturation current when the plasma was pulsed are

presented in Figs. 4.16 and 4.17.

Figure 4.16 shows the ion saturation current collected from plasma by Lang-

97

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0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

I is

(mA)

1/fp (s)

Figure 4.17: Temporal profile of the ion saturation current for fp = 0.1 kHz and

α = 50%. The average RF injected power was set to 200 W.

muir probe when ton = 500 µs and α = 20%. During power on time, relatively

high values of the ion current are obtained as a consequence of the high energy

electrons generated in this time interval to maintain plasma. When the pulse

characteristics are changed to α = 50% and fp = 0.1 kHz (Fig. 4.17), the ion

current saturates after about half of the power on time interval. Also, the peak

current values are decreasing. This can be explained by a reduced number of ener-

getic electrons existing in this plasma. The profiles of the time-averaged values of

the ions saturation current, are displayed in Fig. 4.18 and Fig. 4.19, respectively,

98

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0.00 0.15 0.30 0.45 0.60 0.75

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

<Iis>

(mA

)

fp (kHz)

Figure 4.18: Ion saturation current profile (average value) when fp was varied

from 0.10 kHz to 0.75 kHz, keeping α = 50%. The average RF injected power

was set to 200 W.

when fp and α were varied. Comparing these results with those showed in Figs.

4.8 and 4.9, for the second stage of the inactivation dynamics, it can be seen a

similar tendency of k2 and < Iis > curves. With other words, the dynamics of

the inactivation rate k2 is related to the plasma density evolution. When fp was

varied from 0.10 kHz to 0.75 kHz, for α = 50%, the ion currents flowing through

the probe from plasma show a decrease with almost one order of magnitude. From

a ton value lower than 2 ms (fp = 0.25 kHz), the currents have almost the same

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value. When ton has been kept constant (Fig. 4.19), it can be seen that the plasma

density is resembling the quasilinear evolution of the k2 inactivation rates from

Fig. 4.9.

All these results suggest that the physical mechanism for inactivation can

be offered by the ion bombardment of the spore’s external membrane, possibly

etching, but definitive proof needs further experiments.

20 40 60 800.00

0.06

0.08

0.10

0.12

<Iis>

(mA)

α (%)

Figure 4.19: Ion saturation current profile (average value) when ton = 500 µs and

α was increased from 20% to 80%. The average RF injected power was set to 200

W.

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4.4 Conclusions

The inactivation kinetics of Bss has been systematically analyzed in a low

pressure RF plasma discharge working in continuous and pulsed operation modes,

using the pulse frequency and duty cycle as control parameters. In all cases the

effective value of the RF injected power was the same. To our knowledge, this is

the first study in pulsed plasmas which starts from the detailed analysis of the

microorganism survival curves and relates the extracted information with that

obtained from the electrical and optical plasma diagnostics. For both operation

modes the survival curves presented two separated time inactivation stages, sug-

gested also by the temporal evolution of the holder temperatures. When plasma

was ignited by the continuous application of the RF power, the effectiveness of

the inactivation process was maximized and the sterilization of the bacteria sam-

ple was achieved after 20 minutes of treatment. When plasma was produced by

modulating the RF signal, the temperature at the level of the treating sample was

reduced (by increasing the pulse frequency where dTdfp|α=cst. < 0 or/and by decreas-

ing the pulse duty cycle where dTdα|ton=cst. > 0), at the expense of the sterilization

time, showing that a low temperature treatment of the thermosensitive surfaces

can be achieved without damaging them by using any of the classical heat ster-

ilization techniques. Under the given experimental conditions, it was shown that

the thermal effect of plasma on Bss plays a minor role in the sterilization process.

The qualitative relations between the pulse parameters and the microorganism

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survival curve characteristics were also established. Thus, the inactivation effec-

tiveness (i.e., the reduction of the inactivation time) increased when the pulse fre-

quency was lowered, or its duty cycle was augmented. Regarding the evolution of

the inactivation rates with the pulse frequency/duty cycle, it was observed that the

first phase of the inactivation kinetics is related to the time evolution of the excited

neutral atoms in the pulsed plasma [k1(fp) ∝< I > (fp) and k1(α) ∝< I > (α)],

while in the second phase, the inactivation rate seems to be controlled by plasma

particle number density [k2(fp) ∝< Iis > (fp) and k2(α) ∝< Iis > (α)]. These

findings show that in the time interval needed for bacteria support to approach

the thermal equilibrium with plasma, the inactivation agent playing the leading

role is the optical radiation emitted by plasma, whereas in the second time phase

(when the holder is close to thermal equilibrium with plasma) plasma charged

particles become the main inactivation agent of the studied bacteria.

102

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS

Over the last decade, surface sterilization by plasma discharges has occupied wide

spaces in the applied physics journals and an enormous progress has been made

in this area. The number of findings on inactivation of microorganisms by plasma

has grown, this method already achieving even some commercial success. It has

been concluded that plasma is an important source of inactivation agents. The

heat, optical radiation and particles created inside of discharge space, all bring

benefits in the treatment of both living and non-living surfaces. Even if plasma

is acting on microorganisms with all the agents enumerated above, the depicted

physical killing mechanism is still a subject of great controversy.

Therefore, the aim of this thesis was the investigation of the role of competing

plasma inactivation agents on Bacillus subtilis spores in oxygen RF discharges,

to obtain a better understanding on the sterilization process. To accomplish this,

new experiments were conducted concerning the detailed analysis of the spores

deactivation in plasma produced by continuous and pulsed mode applications of

the RF injected power.

In the first part of the research, the sporicidal effects were studied with RF

plasma operated in continuous wave mode, in order to allow the discrimination

103

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of the effects produced by different inactivation agents. From this point of view

the design of the experiments was challenging, because it is difficult to isolate

the effect of one particular agent by suppressing the production of others. The

experimental results proved, for the first time to our knowledge, that at small

values of the RF injected power the most important inactivation agent is the

optical radiation, whereas at higher powers the dominant role in killing the spores

is played by plasma particles. Moreover, in the assessment of the performances

of a sterilization device working on the basis of a given inactivation method (e.g.,

using plasma), the energy consumption plays a key role. In order to solve this

issue, based on the obtained experimental results the injected RF power sensitivity

of the spore inactivation kinetics was also established, by determining and using

the Z-value corresponding to the employed inactivation method.

In the second part of the research the effects of pulse parameters on bacteria

inactivation was studied with plasma produced by the application of RF injected

power in pulsed wave mode. The results obtained by us clearly show that by

increasing the pulse frequency, by decreasing the duty-cycle, or by a proper com-

bination of the above two control parameters, the temperature at the level of the

bacterial sample. Comparison of the inactivation kinetics showed that the max-

imum effectiveness was obtained when the RF power was injected in the contin-

uous wave mode. The inactivation rates were calculated from the microorganism

survival curves and their dependencies on the pulse characteristics (i.e., pulse fre-

104

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quency and duty cycle) were compared with those of the plasma parameters. The

results indicated that the inactivation rate corresponding to the first phase of the

survival curves is related to the time-averaged intensity of the light emission by

the excited neutral atoms in the pulsed plasma, whereas the inactivation rate cal-

culated from the second slope of the survival curves and the time-averaged plasma

density have similar behaviors, when the pulse parameters were modified.

5.1 Unsolved problems and future work

Although in the present thesis we did not discuss any inactivation mecha-

nisms, we are skeptic that the microbial decontamination scenario is closed to

an end. Several issues have been listed as unsolved problems in the flow charts

corresponding of each chapter. The next step for identification of the real physi-

cal mechanisms at the origin of sterilization process is the assessing of the effects

of each type of plasma particles (i.e., charged particles and neutrals) and their

contribution to the spore deactivation dynamics. A manuscript containing these

experimental findings is almost ready to be submitted for publication.

Finally, some experiments should be imagined, designed and conducted to

elucidate and point out the most relevant complex biochemical pathways inside

microorganisms during their inactivation. This means the separation of the main

bacteria constituents (amino acids, proteins and lipids) and the study of effects

on them for each plasma inactivation agent. The look “inside the box” is ab-

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solutely necessary for a profound understanding of the complex phenomena of the

sterilization process.

Moreover, the overall scope of plasmas for biomedical applications can goes

beyond decontamination and sterilization. For example, the apoptosis induction

of cancer cells, manipulation for cell adhesion control and DNA transfection or

plasma coagulation systems used in surgery are practical applications with a great

future for medical industry. All the above-mentioned topics comprise the most

significant examples of modern biomedical plasma research and in the same time

ensure that this fascinating and growing cross-disciplinary field will become the

medical physics of the future.

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List of publications concerned with the presentthesis

Publication Papers

1. Pulsed Discharge Effects on Bacteria Inactivation in Low-Pressure

Radio-Frequency Oxygen Plasma, D. Vicoveanu, Y. Ohtsu, H. Fujita, Jpn.

J. Appl. Phys. 2008, 47, 1130.

2. Competing Inactivation Agents of Bacteria Spores in Radio-

Frequency Oxygen Plasma, Dragos Vicoveanu, Sebastian Popescu, Yasunori

Ohtsu, Hiroharu Fujita, Plasma Proccess. Polym., 2008, 5, 350.

107

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Conferences

1. Bacillus spores sterilization using low-pressure oxygen plasma,

Dragos Vicoveanu, Yasonori Ohtsu, and Hiroharu Fujita, Proceedings of 13th

Asian Conference on Electrical Discharge, October 16-19, 2006, Sapporo, Japan,

P-2-14, pp. 55.

2. Sporicidal effects of oxygen RF plasma, Dragos Vicoveanu, Yasunori

Ohtsu, and Hiroharu Fujita, Proceedings of 10th Conference on Plasma and Fus-

sion Research (Japan Society of Plasma and Fussion Science), December 14-15,

2006, Fukuoka, Japan, O-21.

3. Bacillus inactivation in RF pulse plasma, Dragos Vicoveanu, Ya-

sunori Ohtsu, and Hiroharu Fujita, Proceedings of 24th Symposium on Plasma

Processing, January 29-31, 2007, Osaka, Japan, pp. 53-54

4. Inactivation characteristics of Bacillus Subtilis in low-pressure

pulsed plasma, Dragos Vicoveanu, Yasunori Ohtsu, and Hiroharu Fujita, Pro-

ceedings of 18th International Symposium on Plasma Chemistry, August 26-31,

2007, Kyoto, Japan, P-112, pp. 680.

5. The influence of the inactivation competing agents on Bacillus

Subtilis spores in oxygen radio-frequency plasma, Dragos Vicoveanu, Se-

bastian Popescu, Yasunori Ohtsu, and Hiroharu Fujita, Proceedings of Symposium

of Applied Physics-spectroscopical measurements in gases and plasma, November

8, 2007, Fukuoka, Japan, pp. 98-99.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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