Cold Plasma Decontaminator

To meet the Air Force need for decontamination, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to design and develop a novel Cold Plasma Decontaminator (CPD) for use in aircraft cargo interiors without affecting the aircraft or its contents, and that can be applied in 15 minutes or less and not require reapplication. The novel CPD discharges a nonthermal, ambient-pressure plasma in an effluent stream of highly reactive chemical species carried by dehumidified air. The key innovation is preionization of the ambient air, decreasing dielectric barriers to triggering the glow plasma discharge. Preliminary theoretical analysis shows that high concentration of the reactive species in the outflowing air plus the high permeability of the aircraft cargo materials to air will make it possible to achieve the Air Force required efficiency of decontamination, equal to off-gassing of the chem-bio agents at rates less than 0.0018 mg-min-m3 (GD), 0.018 mg-min-m3 (HD), and 0.00061 mg-min-m3 (VX). In Phase I, POC will design and fabricate a CPD benchtop prototype for a laboratory proof-of-concept demonstration of destroying chemical and biological agent simulants. In Phase II, POC will develop and test a system prototype capable of decontaminating a full aircraft cargo interior in a short time without need for reapplication.