IIT Jodhpur Researchers Develop Novel Cold-Plasma Detergent in Environment (CODE) Device for Good Indoor Air Quality

Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur researchers have developed a Novel Cold-plasma Detergent in Environment ‘CODE’ device for good Indoor Air Quality.

The device has been tested extensively which deactivates more than 99.99% of harmful pathogens and provides quality indoor air.

Air pollution is basically one of the top 5 risks causing chronic diseases according to the World Health Organization.  We consume nearly 8 times as much air by volume as food and 4 times as much air as water.

Indoor air often contains around 2-5 times more pollution as compared to outdoor air.  Sick building syndrome is also a challenging issue nowadays.

Besides these, airborne transmitted pathogen infection is a huge challenge in the current era. Almost every year we see a new bacteria or virus of influenza nature appearing and creating an epidemic or pandemic of diseases. Long living pathogens and small size aerosols are not effectively dealt with in the currently available indoor air purifiers.

To reduce the risks of infection from airborne pathogens in the indoor environment, Dr Ram Prakash, Professor, Dr Ambesh Dixit, Professor, Ramavtar Jangra, Research Scholar, and Kiran Ahlawat, Research Scholar from the Department of Physics, IIT Jodhpur have developed a Novel Cold-plasma Detergent in Environment ‘CODE’ device. The results have been published in Nature Scientific Reports Journal very recently on 25th June 2023.

Based on this technology Indoor Air Sterilizers are being developed by M/s Divya Plasma Solutions Pvt. Ltd. - A Startup Company Incubated at IIT Jodhpur Technology Innovation and Start-up Centre (TISC) which aims to deal with both aerosol transport and aerosol infectivity simultaneously in the indoor environment and proactively treat the air in the occupied space at the source of contamination.

The concept is based on non-equilibrium cold plasma in combination with nano-technology. This Novel CODE device produces optimum concentrations of negative ions having cold-plasma detergent ions as well as positive ions in an environment similar to mother nature.

Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen coined the phrase "Detergent of the Atmosphere" which is exactly what the Novel Code device is capable of. The start-up company is promoted by Prof. Ram Prakash, the key inventor of the technology, and Anil Sapra, Smt. Bina Sapra, Pradeep Jain, and a few others.

The following are the key advantages of IITJ’s Novel CODE technology for Quality Indoor Air:

• IITJ’s Novel CODE Produces Cold-plasma Detergent in Environment (well-known nature of detergent) with optimum concentration

• Residency time of active ions more than 25 seconds to effectively deactivate the long living pathogens

• Produces requisite Quasi-neutral Electric Atmosphere so as to balance negative and positive charges similar to mother nature and also to produce local fields in the air to rupture harmful pathogens in the aerosols

• Consumes less power (for a 4” device average discharge power < 5 W)

• Deactivates bacteria, molds and viruses

• Captures dust and pollen

• Reduces VoCs

• Removes Odors

Talking about the significance of the research, Prof. Ram Prakash said, “We initiated this work during the COVID-19 Pandemic to disinfect indoor environment and with a hard work of three years we have come up with the Novel CODE-based indoor air sterilizers which will be soon available in the market for commercial use.

The developed CODE device is unique with multiple advantages and will be highly useful for hospitals to reduce cross contamination besides its usages in indoor public places.”

Further adding to it, Prof. Ambesh Dixit, said, “I am happy to participate in the project and want to see its successful use for the general public.”

The developed technology is attractive for individuals in offices, houses, public places (such as healthcare facilities, schools, colleges, universities, large shopping malls, commercial buildings, taxies, trains, cinema halls, conference halls, marriage halls, etc.), and can provide a quality indoor environment. Systems based on this technology can eventually be deployed at all public and healthcare facilities as standalone systems or can be integrated with the ducts, AC, Coolers, etc.