P.S Ganesh Subramanian; R. Harsha; D.K. Manju; M. Hemanth; R. Lakshminarayana; M.S. Anand; S. Dasappa
Abstract
Non-thermal plasma discharge in air generates several species, including reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). If, plasma is generated above a water column, some of these species gets transferred into the water column below generating plasma activated water (PAW), which is known to have several ...
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Non-thermal plasma discharge in air generates several species, including reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). If, plasma is generated above a water column, some of these species gets transferred into the water column below generating plasma activated water (PAW), which is known to have several applications. These applications are attributed to the reactive species generated by the plasma discharge. To cater specifically to each application, a complete chemical characterization of plasma discharge in air and PAW is vital, as each of these species have their own unique contribution to the application of PAW. In this work, analysis of the plasma discharge in air using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and detailed characterization of PAW for its chemical constituents was done. In PAW, the parameters namely, pH, electrical conductivity , , and were quantified as a function of plasma exposure time. The values of ( ) and ( ) obtained in this study were about 50% and 130% higher respectively, than what has generally been reported. The antimicrobial nature of the PAW on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of the bacteria responsible for nosocomial infections was also tested, and PAW was able to inactivate the bacterium. Copyright © VBRI Press.

Seema Sukhani; N. Punith; R. Lakshminarayana; H.N. Chanakya
Abstract
Use of algal biomass as a source of renewable energy and food is gaining more interests. Algal biomass finds its application in a wide range of sectors such as renewable biofuel generation, protein substitution in food industry, in cosmetics and in pharma industry. For growing algae, resources such as ...
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Use of algal biomass as a source of renewable energy and food is gaining more interests. Algal biomass finds its application in a wide range of sectors such as renewable biofuel generation, protein substitution in food industry, in cosmetics and in pharma industry. For growing algae, resources such as water, light and other nutrients including nitrogen are necessary. Nitrogen is the major resources needed for algae growth. Conventionally, this source of nitrogen used to support algal growth is from chemical fertilizers which are derived from fossil fuels. This work reports a preliminary study to quantify the algae growth parameters using Plasma activated water, which is an alternative source of nitrogen. In this study mixed algae culture and Bold’s Basal Medium was used for algae growth using 10 klx light source over a period of 6 days. Sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite and a mixture of both were used as comparative controls. Biomass yield and chlorophyll content were used as comparing parameters in this work. The chlorophyll yield of the microalgae grown in PAW was comparable to that of sodium nitrite solution indicating that PAW can be used to grow algae without using fossil fuel derived fertilizers. Biomass yield of PAW, Nitrate, Nitrite and combination were 311±58 mg/l, 227±25 mg/l, 434±94 mg/l and 362±138 mg/l respectively. These experiments provide a proof of concept evidence to support the claim that PAW can be used as a good source of nitrogen for algae growth. Copyright © VBRI Press.
