A liquid treatment apparatus includes a dielectric tube through which water to be treated flows, a first electrode at least a part of which is disposed in the dielectric tube, a second electrode at least a part of which is disposed in the dielectric tube at a position upstream of the first electrode, a gas supplier operative to generate a bubble by supplying a gas into the water to be treated, and a power supply operative to apply a voltage between the first electrode and the second electrode in a state in which the bubble covers a conductor-exposed portion of the first electrode.

This disclosure relates to a method of increasing the size of particulates in a gas comprising particulates, e.g. a gas that is formed from the combustion of fuels. The method comprises mixing an ionised gas stream with the gas comprising particulates.

An annular apparatus is provided for generating accelerated electrons, wherein ions from a glow discharge plasma may be accelerated onto the surface of an annular second cathode and electrons emitted by the annular second cathode may be accelerated towards an annular electron exit window by a second electrical voltage applied between the annular second cathode and an annular second anode, wherein a housing is designed as a first cathode; a first anode comprises a number of wire-like electrodes which extend completely or partially through an annular evacuable space, and wherein a second reservoir contains a hydrocarbon-containing compound which may be admitted into the evacuable space through the at least one first inlet.

An apparatus for generating a flow of reactive gas for decontaminating a material, surface or area, comprises a first electrode member comprising a first plurality of conductive surfaces and a second electrode member comprising a second plurality of conductive surfaces. The second electrode member is arranged in spaced relationship with the first electrode member to define a reactor channel. The conductive surfaces are exposed to the reactor channel so as to form air gaps between the first plurality of conductive surfaces and the second plurality of conductive surfaces. An air blower generates a flow of air through the reactor channel. An electric pulse generator repetitively generates voltage pulses between the first and second electrode members so as to produce glow discharges in the air gaps between the conductive surfaces of the first plurality and the conductive surfaces of the second plurality, the voltage pulses being generated at time intervals less than 1 millisecond and voltage pulse duration less than about 500 ns, the glow discharges being adapted to transform part of the flow of air into reactive gas. An output section delivers the reactive gas from the reactor channel to a sample or region to be decontaminated or treated.

A method for generating atmospheric pressure cold plasma inside a hand-held unit discharges cold plasma with simultaneously different rf wavelengths and their harmonics. The unit includes an rf tuning network that is powered by a low-voltage power supply connected to a series of high-voltage coils and capacitors. The rf energy signal is transferred to a primary containment chamber and dispersed through an electrode plate network of various sizes and thicknesses to create multiple frequencies. Helium gas is introduced into the first primary containment chamber, where electron separation is initiated. The energized gas flows into a secondary magnetic compression chamber, where a balanced frequency network grid with capacitance creates the final electron separation, which is inverted magnetically and exits through an orifice with a nozzle. The cold plasma thus generated has been shown to be capable of accelerating a healing process in flesh wounds on animal laboratory specimens.

A method for generating atmospheric pressure cold plasma inside a hand-held unit discharges cold plasma with simultaneously different rf wavelengths and their harmonics. The unit includes an rf tuning network that is powered by a low-voltage power supply connected to a series of high-voltage coils and capacitors. The rf energy signal is transferred to a primary containment chamber and dispersed through an electrode plate network of various sizes and thicknesses to create multiple frequencies. Helium gas is introduced into the first primary containment chamber, where electron separation is initiated. The energized gas flows into a secondary magnetic compression chamber, where a balanced frequency network grid with capacitance creates the final electron separation, which is inverted magnetically and exits through an orifice with a nozzle. The cold plasma thus generated has been shown to be capable of accelerating a healing process in flesh wounds on animal laboratory specimens.

Provided are methods, apparatus and systems for stabilization of a glow discharge from a plasma. Also provided are methods, apparatus and systems for processing optical signals from a stabilised glow plasma with enhanced signal to noise recovery. A first method comprises: generating an electric field within a plasma cell using an alternating excitation voltage to excite particles within the cell, to produce a glow discharge from a plasma in the plasma cell in a resonant condition; monitoring, in each excitation cycle of the alternating excitation voltage, one or more signals that correlate with glow discharge optical emissions from the plasma in the plasma cell; and, in response to said monitoring, controlling one or more operating conditions for the plasma cell to maintain the glow discharge emissions from the plasma within a desired operating range in each excitation cycle of the alternating excitation voltage. A relatively stable glow discharge optical emission is maintained via dynamic resonant feedback control of operating conditions such as the electric field that is used to excite particles within the plasma cell. The stabilization of the glow plasma can be used in glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD-OES) for gas analysis and in other applications.

A sterilization device has been disclosed. The sterilization device comprises a toroidal housing having an outer wall, an inner wall, and a central cavity to receive an object to be sterilized. The toroidal housing comprises a thermionic cathode to release primary electrons, an anode grid to attract and accelerate the primary electrons to obtain accelerated primary electrons, and an anode wire to pull additional electrons released from a gas plasma discharge within the toroidal housing. The anode wire may accelerate the additional electrons and the accelerated primary electrons to create a spray of accelerated electrons that may be released through the inner wall. The spray of accelerated electrons may collide with the object to sterilize the object.