Effects of Chemically-Reductive Trace Gas Contaminants on Non-Thermal Plasma Inactivation of an Airborne Virus

Transmission of airborne infectious diseases poses great risk for public health and socio-economic stability, thus, there is a need for an effective control method targeting the spread and transmission of pathogenic aerosols. The existence of chemically-reductive trace air contaminants in animal agriculture may affect the oxidation inactivation process of pathogens. In this study, we report the effectiveness of using non-thermal plasma (NTP) within a packed-bed dielectric barrier discharge reactor on the in-flight inactivation of MS2 bacteriophage, whose inactivation efficiency is determined by the combination of viability and polymerase chain reaction assays. Using a plasma power source with a voltage of 20 kV and frequency of 350 Hz, after differentiating and excluding the physical removal effects of viral aerosols potentially caused by plasma, the true inactivation ability of the NTP reactor of MS2 aerosol has been determined with an overall air flow rate of 200 liters per minute and plasma discharge power of 1.8 Watts. When either ammonia or hydrogen sulfide gas is introduced into the airstream at a concentration of 1 part per million, the NTP virus inactivation efficiency is reduced to around 0.5-log from the 1-log inactivation that was achieved without any contaminating gasses. Higher concentrations of those gasses will not further inhibit the effectiveness of plasma inactivation.