Sustainable Development Aspects of the One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma

OAUGDP was developed at the University of Tennessee. It is a non-thermal glow discharge that operates in air (and other gases) at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. My project is to research the OAUGDP and simulate an equivalent circuit of the glow plasma discharge with PSPICE. It is only a simulation of the discharge so it has no regulations except for copyright laws of the used published material and software for the research. Even if the discharge equivalent circuit is to be build there are no regulations other than the health/safety rules of the department’s laboratory as the OAUGDP is operated in air, without the use of vacuum, and at a voltage of 10V. Despite my thorough search for relevant regulations of OAUGDP the only regulation I could find was about high voltage operation - ISBN 978-0-626-21281-0, NRS 040-5:2007. Since industrial generation of glow discharge plasma involves the use of voltages in the scope of 1-10kV.

More economical and ecologically friendly technologies are sought today by representatives of many industrial sectors to meet new sustainable regulations and competitive pressure. Glow discharge plasma uses air as a working gas at an atmospheric pressure and room temperature - resource-efficient. The majority of industrial plasma processing is done with glow discharges at pressures below 10 torr. This tends to limit such applications to high-value items, as a result of the high capital cost of vacuum systems and the production constraints of batch processing.

Some of the advantages of the industrial use of OAUGDP technology are:

1.     Plasma methods can accomplish results more efficiently and cheaply than competing technologies

             -  Non-thermal and non-water cleansing, purification and sterilization

2.     Plasma can perform tasks that can be accomplished in no other way

             - Fluorescent lamp based on the OAUGDP, which requires neither a vacuum nor the use of mercury. Thin films are made only with plasma methods.

3.     Plasma processes usually accomplish results without producing large volumes of unwanted by-products or waste materials

             - Plasma has no emissions, does not require consumables to operate and it does not generate harmful by-products

4.     Plasma processes usually accomplish results without producing significant quantities of toxic wastes

             - OAUGDP generates ozone which dissolves in the air over a short period of time (1-2hrs)

The above characteristics of plasma and the glow discharge plasma in particular, have always been advantageous. They are becoming increasingly essential in the current, progressively stricter regulatory atmosphere, and in an international competitive environment in which the United Kingdom must rely on its advanced technological skills to compete economically with low-wage, lower-tech overseas competitors.

There are many prospective industrial applications of the OAUGDP which include subsonic plasma aerodynamic flow control; increasing the surface energy and wettability of fabrics, films, and solid surfaces; sterilizing medical equipment and air filters; stripping of photoresist and directional etching of possible microelectronic relevance; oxide coating on metals etc.

Furthermore, working with OAUGDP has the advantage of being an environmentally friendly process. This is due to its simplicity of application as a dry application media as well as its potential to cut down on usage of resources which include water, chemicals as well as energy. Not only it uses less energy but in Atlanta, USA the company Geoplasma uses it to blast garbage with a stream of plasma which vaporizes the trash into pressurized gas that spins a turbine to create electricity. That way fewer emissions are released than incineration and the volume of landfills reduced as well as power prices. The OAUGDP technology is supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). With their support and demand some applications of the glow discharge plasma have been commercialised such as the air filtration system that destroys all microorganisms developed by AGT® and the fluorescent lamp that requires neither mercury nor vacuum invented by the University of Tennessee Plasma Science Laboratory. 

With the rising number of sustainable regulations the One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma comes as a solution for greener industrial works. The full potential has not yet been reached for this technology. I would like to further study the OAUGDP and explore what other capabilities it holds. My research could nd even more applications for this phenomenon of the 4th state of matter. New technologies can be implemented such as a device that reduces exhaust soot from vehicles and industrial chimneys or food sterilizer that cleanses the food without the use of heat or chemicals which will elongate its life. Another useful action would be to try promoting this technology to be integrated in more industrial businesses which would reduce pollution and waste.