PLASMA ACTIVATED WATER FOR AGRICULTURE
- Increase rooting speed
- Reduce water consumption
- Enhance seed germination
- Stimulate plant growth
- Prevent pests
By replicating natural processes:
- TED: The strange properties of water zapped by lightning
- Nature's answer to chemical pesticides | TEDxArnhem
- What is Plasma?
How it works
A gas discharge (plasma) is initiated via a plasma power supply in
an oxygen and nitrogen containing gas flow. This ionizes the gas flow,
creating ions, radicals and reactive species.This discharge will provide
a number of key chemical processes:
- The plasmachemical production of NO and NOx.
- The plasmachemical production of ozone.
- The plasmachemical production of reactive
species including (but not limited to)
OH, HO2, and O(3P).
Plasma can be used in the entire life cycle of fresh produce, from soil to fork:
- Sterilize seeds while in storage
- Enhance seed germination
- Air cleaning, sterilization, and removal of volatile organic compounds in greenhouse facilities
- Treatment, sterilization, and cleaning of water used for produce washing after harvest
- Disinfection of produce before packaging
- Air cleaning, sterilization, and removal of volatile organic compounds in the packaged produce storage facility and transportation vehicles
- Control of pests and pathogens at the in-store display case and in-store storage
- Removal of ethylene from air to reduce rate of aging
- Sterilization of cutting boards, knives, and other food processing equipment both at home and in food processing facilities or grocery stores
- Plasma-assisted destruction of hazardous waste and/or waste-to-energy conversion of the nonhazardous food wastes
Plasma and the water industry
Water is essential for all lifeforms. Be it for personal use such as drinking and bathing or industrial processes such as cooling towers, the importance of water cannot be understated. The scarcity of fresh water makes the situation especially complicated.
Because non-thermal plasma (NTP) is such a powerful catalyst, it can be applied to water to achieve valuable reactions and results. For example, plasma can be used to sterilize and disinfect dirty water and make it safe for drinking. In addition to this usage, the pH of water can be both increased and decreased with plasma. Arguably one of the most exciting water applications of plasma is its potential to create an organic and nitrogen rich fertilizer for agriculture purposes.
- Breakdown of organics/hydrocarbons
- Color treatment
- Breakdown of chemicals in water (i.e. pharmaceuticals)
- Breakdown of algae and unwanted bacteria
- Increase/decrease of pH
- Bleach alternative
- Increase the nitrogen in water for agriculture (creating fertilizer)
- Removal of scale build up in inner wall of pipes
- Increase the moisture sensitivity of surfaces