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. 2018 Dec 4;8(1):17573.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-36003-0.

Inactivation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in an open water system with ozone generated by a compact, atmospheric DBD plasma reactor

Bhaswati Choudhury  1   2 , Sherlie Portugal  1   3   4 , Navya Mastanaiah  1   2 , Judith A Johnson  1   5   6 , Subrata Roy  7   8   9
Affiliations

Inactivation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in an open water system with ozone generated by a compact, atmospheric DBD plasma reactor

Bhaswati Choudhury et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Ozone is a well-known disinfecting agent that is used as an alternative for chlorine in many applications, including water decontamination. However, the utility of ozone in water decontamination is limited by high electrical power consumption and expensive, bulky equipment associated with ozone generation. This study investigates the effectiveness of a lightweight, compact surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) reactor as an ozone generator to inactivate Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in an open water system. Experimental details are provided for ozone generation technique, mixing method, ozone concentrations in air and water, and input energy required to produce adequate ozone concentrations for bacterial inactivation in a contaminated, open water system. Specifically, an active plasma module (APM) reactor system of size 48 cubic centimeters, weighing 55 grams, with a maximum ozone yield of 68.6 g/KWh was used in atmospheric conditions as the source of ozone along with an air pump and a diffusion stone for mixing the ozone in water. Over 4-log reduction in P. aeruginosa concentration was achieved in 4 minutes with 0.1 mg/L ozone concentration in an open water system using 8.8 ± 1.48 J input energy. Also, over 5-log reduction in MRSA concentration was achieved in 2 minutes with 0.04 mg/L ozone concentration in an open water system using 4.4 ± 0.74 J input energy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Illustration of the Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) comb-reactor. The image shows (a) a diagram of the DBD plasma reactor showing the exposed electrode and the ground electrode separated by a dielectric of 0.76 mm thickness and 3.48 dielectric constant and (b) plasma formed around the exposed electrode when the reactor is powered.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Electrical setup used to generate DBD plasma. A low DC voltage is converted to a high AC voltage using the power inverter. The resulting high AC voltage powers the DBD plasma reactor that produces plasma and generates ozone.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Complete experimental set up with arrows showing the ozone flow direction, (b) APM power inverter module, (c) close up picture of diffusion stone used, (d) diffusion stone in contaminated water when pump is OFF, (e) diffusion stone in contaminated water when pump is ON.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Survival curves of P. aeruginosa in contaminated water for repeated active ozonation experiments (left axis), average normalized CFU/ml (right axis) and mean log reduction (right top) (b) survival curves of MRSA in contaminated water for repeated active ozonation experiments (left axis), average normalized CFU/ml (right axis) and mean log reduction (right top).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Average ozone measurements in 125 ml distilled DI water plus 0.1 ml LB during active ozonation at time points, t = 2, 4 and 5 minutes calculated from 11 measurements at each time point.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Ozone measurements in the air above the water level with and without water in the beaker. The difference between the two curves is due to the amount of ozone dissolved in the water. The small difference in the two curves is consistent with the low concentration of dissolved ozone in water by direct measurement shown in Fig. 5.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(a) Characteristic voltage and current waveforms of the DBD plasma reactor used in this study. (b) Average power required to run the DBD plasma reactor is showed for different times. The graph shows a fairly constant value of power around 2.2 ± 0.37 Watts.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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