A new University of Florida (UF) study sponsored by Ingersoll Rand will compare other methods of oxygenation and disinfection with cold plasma technology, which has become a focal point for innovation and research in recent years, particularly in the agricultural and food industries.
“The potential to dial in different ORP and DO levels offers interesting possibilities for sanitation and root health,” said Dr. Paul Fisher, Professor of Environmental Horticulture at UF. “We will be testing the ability of cold plasma to help growers maintain a healthy root environment, avoid the need to dump the nutrient solution, and thereby reduce economic and environmental costs.”
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of cold or non-thermal plasma technology on four focus areas: crop yield and quality, sanitizing power, oxygen stability, and micronutrient solubility.
Each experiment will compare plasma-activated water with untreated water, oxygenated water, and ozone-injected water in order to test the effects on dissolved oxygen (DO) and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP).
The four-part study launched on June 22, 2022, and will continue through the end of 2023.
“The University of Florida has world-class people and facilities that we are excited to have evaluate our cold plasma technology in agricultural water treatment,” said Carmi Spicer, product manager for Ingersoll Rand’s PST Ventures.
Ingersoll Rand recently revealed its cold plasma technology, Ion Solutions, which oxygenates and disinfects water using only air and electricity as inputs. The transformative process uses cold plasma to inject water with nanobubbles containing dissolved oxygen (DO) and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), creating high-quality plasma-activated water.
For more information:
Ingersoll Rand
www.ingersollrand.com