Implementation of Cold Atmospheric Plasma for Disinfecting Purposes in Health care Settings

Implementation of Cold Atmospheric Plasma for Disinfecting Purposes in Health care Settings

Ho, Hung (TU Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering)

van den Dobbelsteen, John (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

2017-12-07

With the rise of multidrug resistant pathogens and Hospital Acquired infections other ways of disinfection should be considered. The growing infections rate causes economic burden due to hospitalization of infected patients where as hospitalization can lead to more infections due to cross-contamination. Current techniques in Infection Prevention Control consist mainly of using chemical agents which leave chemical waste hazardous for Health care personnel. Typical chemical disinfectants needs minutes($>$ 2 minutes) to be reduce the bacteria load by 1log10(90\%) reduction where in sterilization a respected 6log10(99.9999\%) reduction need to be achieved. A potent technique in effectively and efficiently reducing bacteria load is considered in replacing current Infection Prevention techniques. Plasma, especially Cold Atmospheric Plasma, is a upcoming effective technique in reducing bacteria load by the way plasma attacks the prokaryote’s cell envelope, proteins and DNA. Plasma studies show effective reduction of various common pathogenic micro-organisms like Methicillin-Resistant S.Aureus. The simple technique is already applied in the reducing bacteria load in the food industry, disinfection of wounds and tissue generation and pose no health risk when applied on human skin. This Master's project focuses on the implementation of Cold Atmospheric Plasma in Health care. Therefore an design is proposed in disinfecting large surfaces which could achieve the sterilization limit of 6log10 reduction within a minute treatment time. The results of the designed PlasmaSterilizer showed a 7log10 reduction, 99.99999\%, within 60 seconds and a Decimal Reduction value of 0.7[min], the time it takes to reduce 1log10 in bacteria load. It can be concluded that Cold Atmospheric Plasma is a efficient and effective technique ready to be implemented in Health care. The PlasmaSterilizer can be applied in the Infection Prevention Control due to it's modular build, easy-to-use and large treatment area. It can be utilized as a last-minute sterilizer, replacement of chemical disinfectants and could be used in developing countries since the simple design only demands the need of electricity. The design is adaptable and can be applied in sectors where cross-contamination poses a risk.

Cold Atmospheric Plasma
Plasma Disinfection
Plasma Sterilization
Surface Disinfection
Health care
cross-contamination
Hospital Acquired Infections
nosocomial infections

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:727f557d-b326-40dd-9c1d-7a341145d608

2017-12-07

51.4416, 5.4697

Student theses

master thesis

© 2017 Hung Ho