PAW-Clean

Regular cleaning and disinfection of food production machinery and equipment is essential to ensure product quality and safety. Current scientific studies show that the use of plasma-activated water (PAW) enables efficient disinfection. Responsible for the effect are the reactive compounds which are formed by plasma activation and lead to an antiviral, fungicidal and antibacterial effect. Previous studies have mainly focused on the disinfecting effect of plasma-activated fluids, whereby the upstream cleaning process is carried out separately as a basic prerequisite for efficient disinfection with conventional chemical cleaning agents.

Therefore, this IVLV project will now also investigate the cleaning effect of PAW, with a focus on applications in the food sector. Contents of the project are the determination of:

1. Swelling behaviour, reduction of binding forces and loosening of food soils as a result of exposure to PAWs
2. Cleaning effect of PAW in closed systems using the example of pipe systems
3. Duration of effectiveness and storage ability of PAW
4. Degradation of the effective species in PAW after activation
5. Influence on different construction materials

If PAW is successfully applied, the following benefits can arise:

1. The application as a cold cleaning process enables significant energy savings, which leads to a significant cost reduction of the cleaning process in the course of current energy cost developments.
2. The production of PAW does not require any chemicals. Shortages of raw materials and supply chain problems are not relevant to the use of PAW, chemicals do not need to be stored and cleaning costs can be further reduced.
3. PAW decomposes into water on its own after use over time, which allows it to be discharged into sewers and drastically reduces disposal costs.
4. The combined cleaning and disinfection results in significant time savings, reducing non-productive time and increasing production time. In addition, the total water consumption for cleaning is reduced, which makes a significant contribution to water conservation, which is already partly demanded by local authorities due to changing environmental conditions.