Bacteria, spores, fungi and yeasts. Harmful germs can contaminate the plastic product. In industrial production facilities even the tiniest amounts of contamination can cause significant problems and lead to product spoilage. Plastic packaging such as yoghurt pots, screw caps or drink bottles must therefore be sterilized in order to guarantee product quality. But thermoplastics are generally heat sensitive, i.e. often it is not possible to sterilize their surface using hot saturated steam or dry heat. And the use of chemical disinfectants such as hydrogen peroxide or peracetic acid is problematic, and residual disinfectant in the product poses a potential risk to consumers.
With the aid of ‘atmospheric pressure plasma’, packaging materials can be disinfected quickly without using chemicals. In the new microbiology lab at Plasmatreat’s head office in Germany, researchers are investigating this technology to disinfect microorganisms. Their main focus is on packaging materials for food and pharmaceutical products, and medical devices. The company works predominantly with dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), a process which primarily produces reactive oxygen species. These species irreversibly damage cell membranes and other subcomponents within the microorganisms, for example by oxidizing lipids. One advantage of the DBD plasma process is its low temperature increase during processing so that even thermolabile materials can be treated at temperatures below 40° C.
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With the aid of atmospheric pressure plasma, materials can be disinfected quickly without using chemicals (photo: Plasmatreat)
