Search

Non thermal plasma (NTP) is a modern technology with wide spectrum applications in different biological, and medical approaches. By releasing reactive oxygen species (ROS), it allows stimulation or inhibition of cellular processes in biological systems. This technology has been employed in the distinction of bacteria and viruses in food researches. HCV is a significant burden on the global healthcare system due to its rapid transmission and widespread distribution. We have endeavoured to minimise the viral burden in HCV patients in vitro using the NTP, anticipating its influence on serum samples. Meanwhile, the investigation examined oxidative stress in patients with HCV subsequent to NTP exposure through the quantification of reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl (PC), and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHG) concentrations. Sixty serum samples were collected from patients infected with HCV and subjected to NTP for durations of 60 seconds and 240 seconds. The obtained outcomes were contrasted with those of ninety healthy controls and HCV patients who had not been exposed to radiation. A 240-second exposure to NTP significantly decreased viral load (P0.05), whereas a 60-second exposure did not yield a statistically significant decrease in viral load. Conversely, the concentrations of reactive oxygen species, nitrogen dioxide, pyridoxal-5-oxide, and 8-hydroxygen were significantly increased in patients with HCV when compared to the control group. Oxidative stress was significantly increased by 240 seconds of NTP exposure, as measured by increases in MDA, PC, and NO, but not ROS and 8-OHG. It was demonstrated that nitric oxide is the most dependable indicator for forecasting the prognosis of HCV patients. NTP can ultimately reduce the viral load associated with HCV infections in the laboratory, but it also increases oxidative stress, which may result in systemic oxidative damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on progress in the nonperturbative understanding of quarkonium dynamics inside a thermal plasma. The time evolution of small-size quarkonium is governed by two-point correlation functions of chromoelectric fields dressed with an adjoint Wilson line, known in this context as generalized gluon distributions (GGDs). The GGDs have been calculated in both weakly and strongly coupled plasmas by using perturbative and holographic methods. Strikingly, the results of our calculations for a strongly coupled plasma indicate that the quarkonium dissociation and recombination rates vanish in the transport descriptions that assume quarkonium undergoes Markovian dynamics. However, this does not imply that the dynamics is trivial. As a starting point to explore the phenomenological consequences of the result at strong coupling, we show a calculation of the ϒ(1S) formation probability in time-dependent perturbation theory. This is a first step towards the development of a transport formalism that includes non-Markovian effects, which, depending on how close the as of yet undetermined nonperturbative QCD result of the GGDs is to the strongly coupled N = 4 SYM result, could very well dominate over the Markovian ones in quark-gluon plasma produced at RHIC and the LHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-thermal plasma (or cold plasma) is one of the non-thermal processing technologies that gained popularity in the last few years that could replace thermal processing of fruit juices. It can give a minimum of 5 log10 of microbial reduction while giving minimum effects to fruit juices quality. This review provides a general summary of non-thermal plasma utilization in the scope of fruit juice sterilization, factors affecting inactivation, and a brief mechanism of action. The success of microbial reduction by non-thermal plasma is influenced by many factors, such as processing parameters, powers, treatment time, and the gas used. The results of microbial inactivation in fruit juices could vary among various research for the same microbial target due to the different operating conditions and equipment. Numerous research showed that the changes in the quality of fruit juices are a time-dependent phenomenon. Therefore, it is suggested that further research tries to apply non-thermal plasma on fruit juices so that optimization of non-thermal plasma parameters, especially plasma treatment time, becomes crucial to be able to produce high-quality fruit juices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric pressure plasma jet system (APPJs) is constructed with simple and low-cost components. A homemade alternating current (AC) is employed to generate a high voltage from (0 to 12) kV and a frequency of (0 to 12) kHz ,it is sufficient to ionize the argon gas. The system is a double ring electrodes configuration. Pyrex tube is used as a discharge of a barrier, its characteristics are 140 mm length and the wall thickness is 0.90 mm. The internal and external diameters are 3.2 mm and 5 mm respectively. A double-ring configurations made of aluminum cover the outer Pyrex tube. The ring electrodes have 0.1 mm thickness and 10 mm width. The distance between the electrodes is 12 mm and the distance between the ground electrode and the nozzle of the Pyrex tube is 3mm. The behavior of plasma jet length and gas temperature is investigated at different applied voltage and gas flow rate. Optical emission spectrometer (OES) is used to estimate the electron temperature Te and the electron density ne by using Boltzmann plot method. The gas temperature decreases as the flow rate of argon increases but the temperature increases with the applied voltage. The plasma temperature is confined between (22-31)°C and the maximum plasma jet length is 4.2cm. The estimated electron temperature is less than 1 eV and electron density is 1.57×1013 cm-3. This result demonstrates that, the device under consideration is a type of non-thermal plasma and it is suitable to use in biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A plasma generator with a liquid cathode has been developed and studied, which makes it possible to create a plasma flow from electrolyte vapors with a temperature of more than 2000°C and with a mass flow rate of up to 3.0 g/s for gasification of carbon-containing waste. The electrolyte was used in the form of a solution of Glauber's salt in distilled water with a concentration of 0.5-1.0 kg/m3 by weight. The current-voltage characteristics of the discharge were constructed. The optimal electrical and thermal parameters of a plasma flow are determined experimentally. A block diagram of the experimental installation is presented. The resulting synthesis-gas is identical to natural gas in composition. A method of processing polyethylene terephthalate (PETF) in a plasma chemical reactor is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, attention was paid to the mathematical modeling of the plasma temperature field under boundary conditions of the third kind. The simulation of the thermal process is based on the numerical integration of the thermal conductivity equation. This takes into account the change in the thermal conductivity of the plasma and convective heat transfer. Based on the obtained result, the behavior of the temperature field is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of analysis of relaxation phenomena in thermal molecular plasmas. The physical assumptions and the general scalar moment equations, obtained in the 17-moment approximation of the Grad method, are given. By using these equations, we derive the expressions for the relaxation pressure and bulk viscosity coefficients associated with heavy plasma components (atoms, molecules and their ions) and electrons. To gain a deeper understanding of how the physical parameters of particles and inter-particle interactions influence on the plasma relaxation properties, we also employ the semi-qualitative model of energy relaxation for plasma components. Within this model, the expressions for the partial relaxation pressures and bulk viscosity coefficients are derived and analyzed. It is demonstrated that depending on the plasma degree of ionization and the ratio of the characteristic timescales of energy exchange between particles, the partial relaxation pressures and bulk viscosity coefficients can not only vary but also change their signs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves with temperature anisotropy were studied in Saturn's non-uniform magnetic layer. After the kinetic method, after injecting a cold plasma beam into the Saturn system, the growth rate of the EMIC wave was theoretically studied. An expression of the dispersion relation is drawn by using the method of the characteristic solution. Therefore, in this paper, a ring distribution is used instead of the usual Maxwellian distribution. The focus of this study is on the oblique propagation of EMIC waves, whose temperature anisotropy, ion energy density, and propagation angle vary with the direction of the magnetic field. The study found that these parameters support the growth rate of EMIC waves in the Saturn magnetosphere. Numerical analysis also shows that as the number density of cold plasma and the number of thermal plasmas increase, the growth rate of EMIC waves also increases. These results apply to the application of space plasma environments and magnetospheric systems for detailed comparison of planetary studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose new thermo-plasma technology for the selective extraction of the radioactive isotope 14C in the deactivation treatment of the irradiated reactor graphite surface. The proposed technology has several advantages compared with other decontamination methods as it provides effective extraction of highly radioactive nano-micro-size layer from the surfaces of the graphite bulk via cathode plasma inert ion sputtering and compact collecting of the radionuclides via diffusion to anode. Thus it avoids formation of the liquid secondary radioactive waste (“dry” technology), the method is relatively simple to implement and can be technically and economically effective. For the decontamination of the graphite surface and concentrate of 14C exploration under the heating and plasma sputtering, the design of the plasma spraying cell is described. One of the problem to be traversed in this way is the presence of a number of other radioactive isotopes which must be separated from 14C enriched final product. It may be reached by thermal separation of different atoms presenting in the irradiated graphite in accordance with their individual rates for condensation from inert gas to anode substrate. For this purpose plasma sputtering cell includes elongated ceramic heat insulator elements at the heated inert gas pumping out tube to provide a number of zones with different temperature for separate spatial condensation, as well as a vacuum thermal insulation of the anode (collector) for the maximum temperature zone. Model of energy release in this plasma discharge was considered, heat flux via and temperature of the cathode (sputtered surface) and the anode were estimated to ensure pure carbon condensation on the anode excluding other radionuclide impurities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal plasma effects have long been employed for tissue coagulation, cutting, desiccation, and cauterizing for a long time. Nevertheless, there have been significant developments in cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) with well-controlled temperatures below 40℃. Thereby, in the last decade, a new innovative field, often referred to as plasma medicine, has emerged. Effective using of a handheld portable custom designed plasma jet generator for biomedical applications is reported. Portable CAP-generator (∼ 80 g weight) is operated in self-repetitive nanosecond pulse corona discharge at atmospheric pressure air without any external feed gas. The generator has diverse positive results in biomedical applications due to production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). In vitro experiments with human fibroblasts were carried out. As a result, the optimal plasma exposure time promoting maximum fibroblasts proliferation was determined. Additionally, various experiments of in vivo rat’s wounds healing by CAP treatment have been conducted. As a result of the research, control-group mortality was 80%, and in contrast to this it was 10% in the plasma treated group. Resulting from the points mentioned above, the custom designed CAP-generator could be a useful tool for sterilization of contaminated areas, and for wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano Zinc oxide (ZnO) is gaining more importance and its demand is keep increasing in recent decades because of its potential applications in energy, optoelectronic and sensor fields. To address this issue, the bulk synthesis of nano ZnO is demonstrated in the present article by the thermal plasma processing. Nano sized ZnO spherical particles of size 3 – 25 nm evidenced by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been synthesized from micron size zinc metal powder precursor. Surface chemical composition and presence of oxygen vacancies are analyzed by XPS and reported for future application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric pressure plasma jet machining technology not only provides a flexible and efficient way to generate and correct optical freeform surfaces made of fused silica, it can also be applied as a surface smoothing or polishing technique. Thermal plasma jet treatment leads to softening and redistribution of the material. An accurate temperature regime during the process is inevitable to achieve a uniformly smoothed surface. The possibilities for inȭprocess temperature control are demonstrated. Surface roughness values can be significantly reduced by a factor of 1000 depending on the initial roughness of the ground surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article details the results of wastes treatment by plasma reactor technology operated in a dependent connection. High-temperature treatment of asbestos-cement and fly ash from fluidised bed boilers ensures the transformation of asbestos fibers into a glass matrix of a new product in the form of glassy slag. This final product is of inert character and it offers, except for the solutions of environmental issues related to waste landfilling the possibility of material recovery of the final melting product. Moreover, there are described selected mechanical properties of glassy slag from plasma melting of the two mentioned waste types in one common process. It is important to know these properties before proposing glassy slag recovery possibilities - as it is not very frequently used as a secondary raw material yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operation and control of superconducting (SC) magnets in the fusion devices having tokamak configuration opens up the domain of varying peak thermal energy environment as a function of time, commensurate with the plasma pulses. The varied thermal energy environment, thus propagated to upstream of the cooling system, is responsible for the system level instability of the overall cryogenic system. The cryogenic distribution system, the regime of first impact point, therefore, has to be tuned so as to stay at the nearly stable zone of operation. The configuration of the cryogenic distribution system, considered in the present study, involves a liquid helium (LHe) bath as a thermal buffer, LHe submerged heat exchangers and cold circulator apart from the valves for implementations of the precise controls. The cold circulator supplies the forced flow supercritical helium, used for the cooling of SC magnets. The transients of the thermal energy pulses can be attenuated in the cryogenic distribution system by various methodologies. One of the adopted methodologies in the present study is with the precise speed control of the cold circulators. The adopted methodology is applied to various configurations of arrangements of internal components in the distribution system for obtaining system responses with superior attenuation of energy pulses. The process simulation approach, assumptions, considered inputs and constraints, process modeling with different configuration as well as results to accomplish the control scheme for the attenuation of the thermal energy pulses are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employ the AdS/CFT correspondence to investigate the thermalization of the strongly-coupled plasma and the jet quenching of a hard probe traversing such a thermalizing medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we report synthesis of Fe-Ni nanoparticles using thermal plasma route. In thermal plasma, gas phase nucleation and growth at sufficiently higher temperature is observed. The synthesized Fe-Ni nanoparticles are examined by X-ray Diffraction, Raman Spectroscopy, Vibrating Sample Magnetometer and Thermo gravimetric Analysis. Formation of 16-21 nm sized Fe-Ni nanoparticles having surface oxidation show maximum value of magnetization of ∼107 emu/g. The sample synthesized at relatively low power (4kW) show presence of carbonaceous species whereas the high power (6 kW) synthesis does not depicts carbonaceous species. The presence of carbonaceous species protects oxidation of the nanoparticles significantly as evidenced from TGA data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) nanoparticles with an average size of 30nm were synthesised by Transferred arc DC Thermal Plasma route. The synthesized nickel ferrite nanoparticles were characterized by TEM and FTIR techniques. The synthesized nickel ferrite nanoparticles were further functionalized with PMAA (polymethacrylic acid) by self emulsion polymerization method and subsequently were characterized by FTIR and Zeta Analyzer. The variation of zeta potential with pH was systematically studied for both PMAA functionalized (PNFO) and uncoated nickel ferrite nanoparticles (NFO). The IEP (isoelectric points) for PNFO and NFO was determined from the graph of zeta potential vs pH. It was observed that the IEP for NFO was at 7.20 and for PNFO it was 2.52. The decrease in IEP of PNFO was attributed to the COOH functional group of PMAA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the mass production of Ni metal nanoparticles using dc transferred arc thermal plasma reactor by homogeneous gas phase condensation process. To increase the evaporation rate and purity of Ni nanoparticles small amount of hydrogen added along with argon in the plasma. Crystal structure analysis was done by using X-ray diffraction technique. The morphology of as synthesized nanoparticles was carried out using FESEM images. The magnetic properties were measured by using vibrating sample magnetometer at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]